SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – The Kutztown and Shippensburg women's volleyball teams took each other's best shots and gave it right back in a thrilling, five-set Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Eastern Division match Saturday afternoon that the Raiders were able to pull of and remain unbeaten, winning 3-2.
 
Scores of the match were 19-25, 25-23, 20-25, 29-27 and 15-17.
 
The Golden Bears (8-9 overall, 1-3 PSAC East) gave the first-place Raiders (13-6, 5-0) all they could handle all day on their home court.
 
Paige Skinner (Placerville, Calif./Ponderosa) tied a season-high with 25 kills and also added 10 digs for the double-double. Madilyn Bogovic (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cedar Cliff) tallied 13 kills, 19 digs, three assists and three service aces. Lauren Montgomery (Norristown, Pa./Mount Saint Joseph Academy) recorded seven kills and three digs. Emma Baldridge (Damascus, Md./Damascus) finished with 46 assists, 11 digs, two kills and two aces. Saige Thibodeaux (Cape Coral, Fla./Ida S. Baker) led the defense with a match-high 33 digs and added three assists and two aces.
 
There were four ties in the opening set, but Kutztown could never take a lead as it fell behind 1-0 in the set with the host Raiders winning 25-19. But, instead of hanging their heads with the potential to go down 2-0 and be swept, the Maroon and Gold responded with their first set victory in the second. It didn't come easy as KU was behind from the opening point until a 20-20 tie, thanks to back-to-back kills by Skinner. From that point, the Golden Bears scored three points in-a-row, including two more kills from Skinner, who then finished off the set with a kill for a 25-23 win.
 
Shippensburg bounced back on its home floor in set three. Kutztown held two brief leads of one point at 3-2 and 12-11, but the latter would be the last advantage it would have the rest of the way. KU pulled to within just one point at 21-20 on a service ace by Bogovic, but the Raiders netted four straight points to take the tiebreaking set.
 
Set four proved to be the wildest of the match and Kutztown was the team that was able to take advantage and score more points to tie the set back up at 2-2 and force the deciding fifth set. Skinner gave KU the early 1-0 advantage with a kill, but the Raiders went on a 5-0 run following and then another 4-0 run a few points later to find themselves on top 12-7. It was 15-10 after three consecutive Ship kills, but the Golden Bears found their rally and scored five straight points and seven of the next eight to lead 18-17. It would be back-and-forth for the next several rallies until KU erased a 27-26 deficit with three points in-a-row when their backs were against the wall off a Skinner kill and two straight by Bogovic.
 
The fifth set featured 11 ties and eight lead changes until the Raiders were able to take advantage of back-to-back attacking errors from the Maroon and Gold to walk off their court winners.
 
Kutztown has a quick turnaround and will be back out on the court Monday, Oct. 13, in its final non-conference match of the season as it hosts Felician at 7 p.m., from Keystone Arena.

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