GRAYSON, Ky. -- The volleyball program at Shawnee State officially posted its best start to a season in four years Saturday evening, finding two different ways to win by outlasting a pesky effort from homestanding Kentucky Christian in five sets (25-20, 20-25, 27-25, 21-25, 15-8) and winning a straight-setter over Pikeville in a match that saw SSU take out UPike in extended sets (33-31, 26-24, 25-23) in two thrilling back-and-forth affairs that were held as part of the Kentucky Christian Tri-Match, which took place at Ron Arnett Court inside the Damron Hall of Champions Saturday at Kentucky Christian University in Grayson.
MEANING OF SATURDAY'S WINS
With its sweep of Saturday's affairs, Shawnee State (11-4, 1-0 River States Conference) matched its best start to a season through its first 15 matches since 2021, when the Bears also went 11-4 through its first 15 matches. Just one more victory without a loss would allow SSU to match the best start by any volleyball program by the Bears in 13 years, when Shawnee State went 12-4 to start the 2012 season. Those Bears ultimately went 17-5 over the first 22 matches of the 2012 season before finishing out the year 22-13 -- Shawnee State's last season with at or over 20 match victories.
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Game 1 -- Shawnee State 3, Kentucky Christian 2 (25-20, 20-25, 27-25, 21-25, 15-8)
Shawnee State, who jumped out to leads of 5-1, 12-6 and 18-11 in the opening set, never trailed in the first stanza as
Camille McIntosh,
Camille Hall and
Reagan Lewis each combined for nine kills to help the Bears pull out the win in the opening frame, 25-20. The Bears dropped the second set by a 20-25 count and were at risk of trailing in the match by a 2-1 margin as Shawnee State fell behind in the third set by a 20-17 margin, but rallied by forcing three Kentucky Christian attack errors and getting kills from three different frontline players to win a gritty 27-25 outcome that saw the Bears double up KCU, 10-5, in a late push that changed the complexion of the match.
Despite five kills from freshman talent
Bree Hicks in the fourth set, the Bears dropped the fourth frame by a 21-25 margin, but Shawnee State proceeded to save its best volleyball in the match for last -- as the Bears hit .263 in the fifth and final stanza with just one attack error in the fifth set, overcoming a Kentucky Christian frontline that posted 21 total blocks (nine solo, 12 assisted) in the match by getting two kills apiece from Hicks and McIntosh in the fifth set and forcing six Kentucky Christian attack errors in the deciding frame, which Shawnee State won by a 15-8 count.
For the match, Hicks' 15 kills and .324 attack percentage along with McIntosh's 14 spikes and .281 attack mark led the charge, while
Whytney Faulkner and
Katelynn Boerger added in 11 and 10 kills, respectively, to lead the frontline. Senior setter
Makaela Lovely finished with a season-high 41 assists in the five-set match while
Megan Steele and
Ava Jenkins added in 26 and 21 digs, respectively, in the gritty triumph in Shawnee State's River States Conference opener.
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Game 2 -- Shawnee State 3, Pikeville 0 (33-31, 26-24, 25-23)
While Shawnee State's second match of the day against Pikeville didn't take as many sets to finalize, every point in all three sets proved to be critical in the deciding outcome.
The opening set didn't disappoint by itself -- as an incredible 64-volley first set ultimately took nearly a whole hour to decide. Despite allowing Pikeville to hit .349 in the opening set, however, Shawnee State won out behind pure grit and hustle, as well as hitting .289 themselves with 21 kills to just eight attack errors in the opening frame.
As with the first frame, the second set proved to be a battle of wits as Shawnee State answered an early 7-3 lead by Pikeville with a 6-0 run before UPike countered with four straight points of its own, as Pikeville took an 11-9 lead.
Over the next 15 volleys of the second frame, however, SSU went on its most critical run of the match, outscoring UPike 11-6 as four different players posted kills in the set to take a 20-15 lead. Pikeville rallied to tie the match at 23-all and 24 apiece late in the second set, but never led again in the stanza as the Bears closed out the second extra volley set of the match to take a 2-0 match lead.
Unlike the first set, which saw numerous lead changes, and the second set, which saw Shawnee State control much of the back end of that frame, SSU played from behind for much of the third frame, trailing by 8-5, 14-10 and 21-17 margins. Devan Spriggs' group, however, mustered up the gumpton to make a spirited charge in the third frame, charging back from the 21-17 deficit with a 6-1 run that put UPike on its heels as two kills by
Whytney Faulkner and a combined block from
Camille Hall and
Katelynn Boerger had Pikeville trailing by a 23-22 run.
Taking a timeout to attempt to thwart Shawnee State's momentum prior to the next serve, UPike failed in its attempt to do so as
Reagan Lewis placed an ace perfectly into the heart of the Pikeville defense, where a diving Aspen Braaten simply couldn't react fast enough to track the ball down. Lewis then finished off the set and the match two volleys later as the senior's assist to the freshman Boerger put the match on ice.
In its second consecutive well-balanced offensive attacking effort in a row,
Camille McIntosh's 11 kills on a .368 attack percentage and 10 kills apiece by
Whytney Faulkner and
Katelynn Boerger led the Bears while
Bree Hicks posted nine spikes and
Camille Hall six.
Reagan Lewis added in 22 assists and
Makaela Lovely 21, while
Megan Steele posted a tremendous effort with a new career-high of 33 digs in Shawnee State's final match to conclude Saturday's matters.
NEXT UP:
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Shawnee State will look to continue its roll next Friday, Sept. 19 as the Bears (11-4, 1-0 RSC) will play West Virginia Tech (2-18, 1-1 RSC) in a River States Conference match that will be held at Waller Gymnasium in Portsmouth. Match time is set for 7 p.m. Friday evening, with the contest to be seen atÂ
https://www.youtube.com/@ssubearsathletics.
