KUTZTOWN, Pa. – The Kutztown University women's volleyball team had impressive rallies in all three sets, but ultimately could not dig itself out of early holes as the Golden Bears fell in three tight sets (21-25, 21-25, 21-25) to Shippensburg in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) play on Friday night at Keystone Arena.
 
KU (3-13, 0-5 PSAC) trailed by as many as eight points in each set and ultimately came within at least three points each time before Shippensburg (14-3, 3-2) eventually pulled away.
 
Seniors Zandria Zielinski (York, Pa./York Catholic) and Madison Brake (Reynoldsburg, Ohio/Bishop Hartley) each set career-highs for a three set-match on the night. Zielinski totaled 11 kills, tied for the second-highest output of her career, while Brake led all players with 22 digs.  
 
It was Brittney Moyer (Orwigsburg, Pa./Blue Mountain (Lock Haven)) who paced all players with 12 kills, tied for her most in a three-set match this season. She added 11 digs for her 12th double-double of the year.
 
Jessica Howe (Chambersburg, Pa./Chambersburg Area) was two kills shy of her fourth double-digit performance of the season and matched Zielinski with a team-high two blocks.
 
The rallies began with Kutztown trailing 16-8 in the first. The Golden Bears went on a 9-1 run to even it all up at 17. Brake and Sophie Kerschner (Clinton, N.J./North Hunterdon) each had two services aces in the stretch, with Howe contributing two kills before a Zielinski kill tied the score. A Shippensburg timeout swung the momentum back to the Raiders side though, as they responded with the next five points, with three Morgan DeFloria kills helping stave off the KU comeback.
 
The comeback was almost more remarkable in the second after Shippensburg led by as many as 15, 18-3. Kutztown took the next five points before the two teams traded the next 11  to make the score 24-13. From there, the Golden Bears rattled off eight points in a row, which included two Tori Wakelee (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown East) services aces and two kills each by Zielinski and Moyer, to get as close as 24-21 before an error finally gave the Raiders a two-set advantage.
 
It was another big deficit, 19-11, for KU in the third. Twice the Golden Bears got within three, at 21-18 and 22-19, but once more the early hole proved to be to much as Shippensburg held on for the sweep.
 
The match was nearly even in kills (39-35), assists (36-30) and digs (69-63), but where the biggest Shippensburg advantages came was in hitting percentage and blocks. The Raiders swung .207 and held KU to just a .090 hitting percentage behind a 14-3 edge in rejections.
 
Five different Raiders finished with at least three blocks, led by five each from Kendall Johnson and Maura Nolan. With eight kills, Johnson was also one of five players on Shippensburg to record at least five kills, trailing only Morgan DeFloria's team-high 10.
 
In the midst of a five-match homestand, Kutztown returns to Keystone Arena tomorrow, Oct. 8, hosting Millersville (4-11, 1-4) at 3 p.m.