SSU volleyball vanquishes Defiance in straight sets, rallies from behind to collect first victory against Lindsey Wilson since 2010

RIO GRANDE, Ohio -- Throughout the 2024 volleyball season, the Shawnee State volleyball program has showcased tantalizing potential -- that of a potential NAIA Top 25 program in the future.

On Saturday, that potential came together and merged with beautiful execution to create a powerful force.

Facing a Defiance program that was out to an impressive 6-3 start entering play on Saturday, Shawnee State proceeded to make quick work of the Yellowjackets, hitting .279 as a team and limiting Defiance to .105 on the attack while notching 51 digs to the Yellowjackets' 36 in one of SSU's most complete performances of the 2024 season to date, resulting in a straight-set (25-19, 25-20, 25-19) victory.

The Shawnee State volleyball program's next victory, however, was arguably more special, and significant.

In what will certainly be one of Devan Spriggs' and Sydney Seth's biggest signature victories -- if not their biggest signature win -- during their time heading up the program, the Bears rallied from a 2-0 set deficit in its final match at the Emileigh Jo Cooper Memorial Classic to claim a thrilling five-set triumph over Lindsey Wilson (21-25, 19-25, 25-23, 25-21, 15-9) in a fantastic close to the classic that saw Shawnee State show equal parts of talent and grit to pull out the thrilling affair.

Milestone Achievement -- Bye Bye, Blue Raiders

In its closing match against Lindsey Wilson, Shawnee State was held to hitting percentages of .133 and .148 in the first two sets, but rallied by hitting .161, .200 and a terrific .471 in the final three stanzas.

While the Bears kept their foot on the throttle from an attack standpoint, Shawnee State also stymied and frustrated Lindsey Wilson's attack as the Blue Raiders, who hit .268 and .448 over the opening two sets, hit .186, .107 and .222 over the final three stanzas.

In finding the winning recipe, Shawnee State, for just the fourth time in 26 matches against Lindsey Wilson, emerged victorious over their former Mid-South Conference foe.

Saturday's victory marked the first time in nearly 14 years since the Bears defeated their former conference foe. Shawnee State defeated Lindsey Wilson on Aug. 28, Sept. 30 and Nov. 8, 2010 en route to a 35-12 record, the Mid-South Conference Championship and a NAIA National Tournament berth in 2010, but lost each of their next 22 meetings to the Blue Raiders -- until Saturday evening's triumph over the 2017 NAIA National Champions.

How it started

The Bears, who dropped their opening pair of sets by 21-25 and 19-25 margins, were in trouble in the third set -- as Shawnee State, facing a 22-17 deficit, looked to be in significant danger of dropping the match.

One significant spurt, however, proved to change the entirety of the match.

Megan Steele, who has been a swiss army knife for Shawnee State throughout much of her career, and promising freshman talent Camille McIntosh were the catalysts in a terrific 8-1 run by the Bears -- with McIntosh ripping off four kills and Steele two spikes during the set-deciding spurt, all via Reagan Lewis assists -- with Lewis herself making a huge play by nabbing a quick kill on an over shot off of two quick deflections to save a point for the Bears prior to the spurt. Those huge performances down the stretch turned the 22-17 deficit into a 25-23 Bears victory, and instead of heading to the house, Shawnee State found itself still in the thick of the scrappy battle, albeit behind by a 2-1 margin.

The momentum change in the match, however, was already palpable.

The rise

This was proven in the fourth set, when Shawnee State immediately jumped out to a 3-0 advantage -- and after a Lindsey Wilson rally, kept a 13-12 advantage as the Bears got five kills combined from Steele and Haidyn Wamsley over the course of the fourth set, while Mikalyn Woods, another promising freshman hand, added in a kill of her own and teamed with Wamsley for a block that gave SSU the point once again.

Lindsey Wilson responded by scoring three out of the next four volleys to retake the lead, but by this point, Shawnee State had its full bearings underneath it -- as Kylee Gifford notched a kill, an assist to McIntosh, and teamed with Whytney Faulkner on a block. McIntosh added in a second kill later in the same set, and Wamsley and Woods teamed up for another block -- helping the Bears pull enough of a distance that the Blue Raiders couldn't overcome by taking the fourth set, 25-21.

With the match all even at two sets apiece, and the momentum clearly in the Bears' camp, Shawnee State left nothing to chance -- and never relinquished control from there on.

McIntosh immediately got the ball rolling with a swift kill down the right side, and after Wamsley and Woods teamed up for yet another block, Wamsley, Faulkner and Gifford nabbed three out of the next four kills. Gifford then teamed with McIntosh for a block -- giving Shawnee State a 6-3 lead.

Out of the Lindsey Wilson timeout, Lewis added a service ace and McIntosh a solo block, while two kills by Wamsley and a kill each from Faulkner and Steele held Lindsey Wilson at bay and gave the Bears a 13-9 lead, putting Lindsey Wilson on the ropes.

Wamsley leaves nothing to chance

With the ball quite literally in the hands of one of the best athletes in the country, the mental makeup of senior multi-sport talent Haidyn Wamsley, prior to her serving, showed that nothing was going to be chanced.

A poised talent, Wamsley launched a service ace that easily dropped, then served out the final point effectively as Lindsey Wilson struggled to formulate a strong attack at match point off of Wamsley's final serve due to effective placement, resulting in an attack error that sealed the fifth and final set, as well as the match, in Shawnee State's favor.

In the hard-fought match, Wamsley, Gifford, McIntosh and Steele each posted 10 kills, with Steele adding in 10 digs to amass a double-double. Reagan Lewis finished with 24 assists and Makaela Lovely 20, while Brooke Bossert's 15 digs and Ava Jenkins' 14 dives, along with Lewis' seven digs and Lovely's five, rounded out a strong all-around effort.

SSU stars in straight-set triumph over Defiance

Facing Defiance earlier Saturday afternoon, Shawnee State faced little resistance in an impressive straight-set victory over Defiance, hitting .279 as a unit and never trailing after the 22nd volley in any one of the three sets en route to the victory.

Camille Hall, in particular, provided a spark for Shawnee State as yet another talented freshman. Nabbing eight kills on a .400 attack percentage for the match, Hall posted three kills alone in the opening set and finished the first set, a 25-19 Shawnee State triumph, off with back-to-back kills to end the first set. Hall added five additional spikes in the third set to help close out the match.

While Hall starred, fellow freshman Whytney Faulkner, who has been a huge piece already to Shawnee State's success, was just as effective with nine kills on a .389 attack percentage. Faulkner posted four of her nine kills in the third and final set -- closing the match out by nabbing each of Shawnee State's final two volleys off of kills in the third set.

As per usual, Haidyn Wamsley and Kylee Gifford were also effective -- with Wamsley nabbing 13 spikes on a .296 attack percentage and Gifford 10 kills on a fantastic .438 attack mark. Wamsley posted five kills each in the first and third sets while Gifford posted five kills in the first set and three kills in the second set of action.

Reagan Lewis' 23 assists and Makaela Lovely's 18 dimes helped all four attackers shine in a big way against the Yellowjackets.

Additional

Shawnee State (5-3) gets five days of rest before returning to action against Georgetown (Ky.) Thursday, Sept. 5 at 6 p.m. at Waller Gymnasium in what will be the home opener for the Shawnee State volleyball program. Road trips to Lindsey Wilson (12 p.m.) and Campbellsville (4:30 p.m.) follow next Saturday, Sept. 7.