Box Score
ERIE, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University volleyball team closed out the 2010 season with a loss on Saturday as Gannon defeated SRU 3-1 (11-25, 25-27, 25-21, 19-25). The Rock ends the year with an overall record of 8-21 and a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference mark of 5-14.
Junior outside hitter
Kaylee Smith led Slippery Rock with a double-double of 10 kills and 19 digs. Also joining Smith with 10 kills was sophomore opposite
Sarah Cadwallader. Junior middle hitter
Lisa Bakaitis also had a strong match with nine kills and a match-high eight blocks (one solo/seven assisted).
In their last matches for the Green and White, senior setter's
Anna Bixler and
Kim Wilson recorded 21 and 13 assists respectively. Junior outside hitter
Alee Kromer and sophomore
Hannah McShea also added 14 and 10 digs respectively. Junior outside hitter
Kristin Slavoski chipped in seven kills of her own to help The Rock.
After losing the first set 25-11, SRU erased a 6-1 deficit in the second set to take a 24-23 lead off of a kill by Smith before eventually falling 27-25 and giving Gannon (20-8, 13-6 PSAC) a two-set lead.
It looked as if Slippery Rock was going to lose its sixth consecutive match in straight sets as Gannon jumped out to a 12-7 lead in the third set, but Slippery Rock stormed back to tie the match at 12-12 thanks to a 5-0 run that was highlighted by a kill by Cadwallader and four Gannon attack errors.
The Golden Knights once again edged ahead 20-19 before Slippery Rock responded with a dazzling string of four consecutive points to take a 23-20 lead. After a Rock attack error, SRU claimed the set 25-21 off of consecutive kills from Cadwallader and Smith.
Slippery Rock played Gannon even in the fourth set, but with the score tied 7-7 Gannon ripped off an 11-5 run to take an 18-12 lead that The Rock could not comeback from. SRU did cut the lead to one point at 19-18 before the Golden Knights scored six of the game's last seven points for the 25-19 decision.
Slippery Rock will lose Bixler, Wilson,
Alex Heller and
Keira Peoples to graduation, but will return 16 players in 2011.