Having already matched its best start through its first 15 matches since 2021, the volleyball program at Shawnee State will look to improve and obtain its best start to a season in 13 years over the weekend as the Bears (11-4) will play in three matches at Waller Gymnasium and host four overall Friday and Saturday when the Bears host West Virginia Tech (2-18, 1-1 River States Conference) Friday evening at 7 p.m. and play Rio Grande (11-6, 2-0 River States Conference) and Cumberland, Tenn. (15-6) in a tri-match that will see Shawnee State play at 1 p.m. and 5 p.m., respectively.

Rio Grande and Cumberland (Tenn.) will play one another in between Shawnee State's matches Saturday at 3 p.m.

• Shawnee State has six players who have posted 78 or more kills in 2025. Whytney Faulkner's 106 kills leads the team as a sophomore while true freshman Katelynn Boerger is next with 97 spikes. Fellow true freshman Bree Hicks' 84 kills, along with 82 from Camille McIntosh and 78 apiece from Camille Hall and Reagan Lewis, round out a well-balanced offensive attack that will only get more pronounced in its balance once Natalie Reida, who has 63 kills already in a terrific start to her own freshman campaign, returns from injury.
  • Six of the seven players mentioned above are of freshman or sophomore eligibility.
• Setting-wise, Lewis (278 assists) and Makaela Lovely (213 assists) continue to be consistent as the team's lead distributors.
• Defensively, Megan Steele (253 digs), Ava Jenkins (151 digs) and Brooke Bossert (116 digs) have all been key throughout the season for the back line. Boerger (24 total blocks), McIntosh (20 total blocks) and Hall and Reida (18 each) have led the front line's defensive efforts in defending at the net.

• All four matches will be live streamed at https://www.youtube.com/@ssubearsathletics.