Bears fall in regular match, resumption of suspended contest against IU-East

RICHMOND, Ind. -- In what ended up being a pair of River States Conference contests -- one full RSC match in its entirety and the completion of another affair that was suspended due to inclement weather -- the Shawnee State volleyball program dropped both affairs to Indiana-East as the Bears fell in straight sets (22-25, 19-25, 22-25) in the resumed contest from Sept. 27 and in Saturday's full, regularly scheduled match (15-25, 15-25, 26-28) at Lingle Court in Richmond, Ind. Saturday afternoon.

Shawnee State (14-12, 7-7 River States Conference) started out the afternoon in a strong manner, competing well in what was ultimately the final set of the resumed match from Sept. 27. The Bears scored seven out of the first 10 points of the third set as Kylee Gifford, Camille McIntosh and Whytney Faulkner all nabbed kills off of Makaela Lovely passes before Lovely added in a service ace to put the Bears in front by a 7-3 margin in the third set of the first match.

Then, down 15-8 later in the going, Shawnee State rallied back, getting a block off of the hands of McIntosh and Gifford and kills from Gifford and Faulkner to draw within 17-14. SSU then drew as close as 24-22, following up the previously mentioned 6-2 run with an 8-4 tear to pull within two volleys after getting two kills each from Wamsley and Lovely as well as one spike each from Faulkner and Gifford. Indiana-East was able to regroup after a timeout at match point, however, and got a kill from Teah Barrett Matthews to close out the first match of the day.

After dropping the opening pair of sets in the second match of the day, Shawnee State came back with a better look in the third set.

Down 10-6 in the third set, the Bears ripped off a 7-0 run as Whytney Faulkner ripped off a trio of kills while Haidyn Wamsley posted a kill and teamed up with Faulkner for a block to give SSU a 13-10 advantage, forcing Indiana-East to burn a timeout. The Bears then overcame that stoppage by the Red Wolves and even built on its lead by going on a 6-2 push after IU-East initially cut the SSU lead to a 13-12 count following its timeout -- as Faulkner posted a service ace, a kill and teamed with Gifford for a block to put Shawnee State ahead by a 19-14 margin in the third set.

Unfortunately, the Bears weren't able to hold that lead -- as a 7-2 run by the Red Wolves set up a mad dash to the finish with Gifford, Faulkner and Wamsley each posting kills to help SSU extend the match as the Bears and Red Wolves ultimately entered extra volleys tied at 26-all. However, IU-East was able to close out the third set and the match by taking the final pair of tallies.

Shawnee State was ultimately led by eight kills each from Wamsley and Whytney Faulkner in the first match, as Wamsley hit .278 and added three solo blocks to the table to boot for the Bears. Makaela Lovely's 24 assists and five digs, along with Ava Jenkins' 14 digs and Megan Steele's 12, rounded out SSU's main performers in the completed contest.

In the regularly scheduled contest, Faulkner posted eight kills on a .286 attack percentage, 10 digs, and four assisted blocks to lead the Bears while Gifford added in eight kills and four assisted blocks and Wamsley seven kills to go along with three assisted blocks. Lovely's 25 assists and 10 digs led Shawnee State in the latter pair of primary categories.

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The Bears will host Midway (Ky.) in its final regular season contest at Waller Gymnasium Tuesday, Nov. 5 at 7 p.m.