KUTZTOWN, Pa. -- The Kutztown University women's volleyball team (7-9, 0-4 PSAC East) was unable to overcome Shepherd (8-9, 3-1 PSAC East) in a five-set thriller (25-23, 9-25, 25-21, 23-25, 10-15) Friday night at Keystone Arena.
Graduate student
Gabriela Fialova (Ledec nad Sazavou, Czech Republic/Sportovni Gymnazium Ludvika Danka) led the way for the Golden Bears with 19 kills and 10 digs in the contest.
Sadie Doss (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Mechanicsburg) chipped in with 15 kills, while
Julia Post (Sellersville, Pa./Pennridge) had eight.
Cat Farole (Orefield, Pa./Parkland) led the defensive charge for KU, registering 10 digs to go along with her 34 assists.
Grace Ingram (Allentown, Pa./William Allen) notched six blocks as well. Shepherd topped the Golden Bears when it came to hitting, finishing with a .252 hitting percentage compared to KU's .139.
Kutztown got on the board first with a victory in the opening set. KU was behind for most of the set and trailed by as many six points at 14-8, but scored five of the next six points to pull to within two. Then down 15-13, Post and Fialova registered two kills each over the next six points to tie the match 17-17. The teams traded points back-and-forth until back-to-back attacking errors from Shepherd made it 24-22 KU. Doss capped off the set with a kill to give KU the 1-0 lead.
The second set was all Rams as they jumped out by scoring the first eight points and 10 of the first 12 and were never threatened. Instead of falling behind in the match, the Maroon and Gold responded to take the third set. They raced out to an early lead and led by as many as 10 (20-10). Shepherd went on a run to cut the lead to four towards the end of the set, but Fialova ended the set with a kill to give KU the 2-1 advantage.
Shepherd, however, forced a fifth and deciding set, erasing a 23-22 Golden Bears lead late by rallying for three consecutive points, two of which came via Joi Fairweather kills. The Rams jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the fifth set, but KU was able to cut the lead down to 7-6. Shepherd tallied four consecutive points and pulled way, downing the Golden Bears 15-10 in route to a 3-2 victory in the match.
Kutztown has a quick turnaround as it hosts Shippensburg tomorrow, Saturday, Oct. 7, at 1 p.m., from Keystone Arena.
