SSU drops four-set decision to Indiana-Southeast (23-25, 33-31, 20-25, 21-25)

NEW ALBANY, Ind. -- The volleyball program at Shawnee State got double-double performances from Ross County natives Makaela Lovely and Megan Steele while also receiving 17 kills on a .239 attack percentage from Haidyn Wamsley and 30 digs from Ava Jenkins, but the Bears ultimately dropped a four-set River States Conference matchup to Indiana-Southeast Saturday afternoon at the IU-Southeast Activities Building in New Albany, Ind.

Shawnee State outhustled Indiana-Southeast on the backline by notching 88 digs to the Grenaiders' 82 and got strong performances from Jenkins on the defensive backline and Lovely from both a passing and defensive perspective, but were held to a .123 attack percentage as Indiana-Southeast notched 18 blocks to SSU's eight. 

The Bears' best performance was in the second set of play -- as Shawnee State overcame early deficits of 6-0 and 10-2 to tie the match up at 24 volleys apiece with Steele, Lovely, Wamsley, Whytney Faulkner and Kylee Gifford all combining for kills during the rally.

With the second set going to a masterful 64-volley showcase, the Bears claimed the advantage for good by taking five out of the set's final seven points -- as Wamsley and Faulkner obtained back-to-back kills while Faulkner and Gifford, along with Wamsley and Maelynn Howell, combined for back-to-back assisted blocks to help put the second set away in Shawnee State's favor after the Bears dropped the third match by a scant 23-25 margin.

While hitting .268 and .200 as a team, respectively, in the first and third sets of competition, Shawnee State allowed Indiana-Southeast to hit .244 and .261 in those frames of action, and in the fourth set, the Bears hit -.026 while the Grenadiers nabbed a .225 attack percentage.

In her double-double performance, Steele ultimately led the Bears with 18 kills and 12 digs -- posting six, five, four and three kills over the first through fourth sets of play, while Wamsley, who posted five, four, five and three kills in a consistent hitting effort throughout, moved to 768 career kills with her 17-kill performance on Saturday.

Jenkins, who is now up to 775 career digs, enjoyed a season-best dig performance by accumulating her 30 digs, while Lovely not only posted her season-best output from an assist standpoint, but also notched a new career-best by collecting 37 assists while adding in a double-double of her own with 15 digs to boot. Lovely, a graduate of Adena High School, also posted five kills on a .308 attack percentage to boot.

Along with the above quartet, Sam Schobelock's 11 digs rounded out the main efforts for Shawnee State (6-6, 0-1 River States Conference).

The Bears will return to action Friday, Sept. 27 and Saturday, Sept. 28 when Shawnee State plays host to Indiana-East at 5 p.m. on Friday evening and Rio Grande at 12 p.m. on Saturday afternoon as part of Homecoming festivities. More on those games will be coming in a preview story in the coming days.