By John Reed
SC Copy Editor

On Thursday, October 16 ESU Women’s Volleyball played host to the West Chester Golden Rams at Koehler Fieldhouse.

The match — dubbed Think Pink Day — is to promote breast cancer awareness which culminates every year in October.

Despite a gutsy effort, the Warriors fell to West Chester in three sets.

Led by freshman outside hitter Desiree Claxton, who notched nine kills in the opening set, the Warriors made it competitive early, but deflated following an intense back and forth where the Golden Rams eventually prevailed with a score of 28-26 in the first set.

After West Chester (14-10, 5-9) prevailed early on, the Golden Rams went on to win the next two sets with relative ease to the tune of 25-19 and 25-17.

The Rams were led by redshirt-freshman setter Annalee Halbert, who registered her fifth double-double of the season, and senior middle blocker Julia O’Brien with 13 kills.

Claxton’s 17 kills against West Chester add to her teamleading total of kills on the season to 238 through the team’s first 23 games. With eight games remaining, she needs only 85 kills to enter the ESU record books for a top ten finish in kills for a season.

Senior Annabelle Charlton put up a good performance with 6 kills, 25 assists, and 16 digs. She is currently eighth all-time in career assists.

Junior libero Maddie Hutchison climbed the record books against the Golden Rams. With 19 digs, she passes April Mellott and moved into fourth place for career digs at 1,310.

The Golden Rams junior outside hitter Marina Sharkey contributed nine kills, and freshman defensive specialist Lyndsey Iacobelli chipped in 23 digs.

East Stroudsburg traveled to Philadelphia University last night in an effort to right the ship in a non-conference affair.

The goal: get the win before hosting four of the next five games at Koehler Fieldhouse.

Freshman Desiree Claxton led all players with 14 kills and chipped in 10 digs, senior outside hitter Abby Welch contributed 11 kills and four digs, and Annabelle Charlton continued with another stat-stuffing performance—and her twelfth double-double of the season—by adding 22 assists, 16 digs, four blocks, and three kills in a losing effort.

The match started off poorly for the Warriors as they dropped the first two sets with scores of 25-14 and 25-18. ESU lacked their competitive edge early and needed to wake up in a hurry.

Set three served as ESU’s springboard as the Warriors dominated the Rams early on. Despite the hot start, complacency crept in, and ESU allowed the Rams to tie it up at 16.

A five-point run by the Warriors followed and they were back in control of the third set. Sitting at 21-16, ESU needed a mere four points to steal the momentum back from the home team.

After trading points and getting a key block down the stretch, the Warriors stole the set with a score of 25-19.

The fourth set began a lot like the third. After swapping a few points, the Warriors went on an eight-point tear to take an 11-3 lead.

It wouldn’t last because ESU’s defensive lapses allowed the Rams to go on their own six-point run in response and lessen the gap to 11-9.

The Warriors and Rams began to trade points in the latter half of the set until the score was knotted at 22. With the ESU defensive effort exhausted, the Rams began to notch the last three critical points and won the set by a score of 25-23 and the match 3-1.

Email John at:
jreed18@live.esu.edu