PORTSMOUTH, Ohio -- The volleyball program at Shawnee State officially sealed its best start to a season in 13 years Friday evening as
Bree Hicks' 10 kills and a 20-assist, five-kill, five-dig effort from
Reagan Lewis helped lead the Bears to a straight set win over West Virginia Tech, 3-0 (25-10, 25-19, 26-24) Friday evening at Waller Gymnasium in a River States Conference match that was held in Portsmouth.
Shawnee State, who moved to 12-4 overall and 2-0 in the RSC with the win, never trailed in the opening set en route to a dominating 15-volley victory in the first frame, then came back from deficits of 8-6 in the second set and 6-0 as well as 10-4 in the third set to score the program's eighth straight set win in 2025.
It's the best start through the first 16 matches of the year for the Bears since 2012, when Shawnee State also went 12-4 over its first 16 affairs. SSU ultimately finished the 2012 season 22-13.
MATCH SUMMARY
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Up by a 14-10 margin in the opening set, Shawnee State finished out the first frame with an 11-0 scoring spurt that saw
Camille McIntosh collect a pair of kills while
Bree Hicks and
Katelynn Boerger added in one spike each.
Natalie Reida, who made her way back from an early season injury, finished out her time on the service line with a bang in the opening set, dropping in a pair of aces to conclude the dominating first set win for the Bears.
Down by the aforementioned 8-6 count in the second set, the Bears rallied in the second set as a 6-1 spurt during the middle of the frame gave Shawnee State the lead, 12-9, with
Whytney Faulkner and Reida each posting a pair of kills.
West Virginia Tech rallied briefly and took a 13-12 advantage, but SSU came back with an 11-4 run as a combined block by Hicks and Reida, a kill from Hicks and a pair of solo blocks from McIntosh started the spurt while an ace by
Makaela Lovely and a pair of kills by
Reagan Lewis ultimately gave Shawnee State a comfortable 23-17 lead -- a lead that Shawnee State wouldn't give up grasp on the rest of the way.
Despite trailing by a 2-0 count in the match, however, West Virginia Tech came out hot -- scoring each of the first six points in the third set and racing out to a 10-4 advantage.
However,
Bree Hicks helped Shawnee State answer the bell.
Over the next 28 volleys, Hicks posted six of her 10 kills in the match in the third and final set, the last of which kicked off a 4-0 run by SSU that turned a 20-19 deficit into a 23-20 Shawnee State lead.
West Virginia Tech scored four out of the next five points to send the match to extra volleys, but from there, Lewis and Reida backed up Hicks with two swats to conclude the set and the match as Shawnee State collected its fourth straight match victory and its sixth win over its last seven Friday evening.
Hicks posted her 10 kills on a .261 attack percentage while Faulkner added in seven spikes and McIntosh, Lewis, Reida and Boerger five each. Lewis added in 20 assists while
Makaela Lovely nabbed 14 to lead the offensive attack, and defensively,
Megan Steele and
Brooke Bossert each tallied 12 digs apiece while
Ava Jenkins added in 10.
NEXT UP
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Shawnee State (12-4, 2-0 River States Conference) hosts a tri-match against Rio Grande and (RV) Cumberland, Tenn. at 1 p.m. and 5 p.m., respectively. Rio Grande enters Saturday's match against Shawnee State at 11-6 overall and 2-0 in the RSC, while Cumberland, Tenn. enters at 16-6. The first match of the day between SSU and Rio will be a RSC matchup, while the 5 p.m. matchup between SSU and Cumberland, along with the match immediately preceding it between Cumberland and Rio, will be nonconference matchups.
To watch all three matches Saturday, visitÂ
https://www.youtube.com/@ssubearsathletics.
