Fighting Scots volleyball moves to semifinals after IUP five-set thriller

On Tuesday night, the Fighting Scots took on Indiana University of Pennsylvania in a quarterfinal PSAC tournament match-up that would go the distance. 

After winning two games each, the match would go to a tiebreaker where Edinboro would come through victorious, 17-15.

Leading the charge, as they have done for the majority of the year, were Challen Litwiler and Cierah Jackson at the net, along with Sydney Trathen, who tallied 55 assists, 51 more than anyone else on the team. 

Before their performance in the quarterfinals, the Scots traveled to Gannon University to face the Golden Knights in their last regular season PSAC match. The Golden Knights came out on top with a 3-2 win, with over 200 people recorded in attendance.

Edinboro took the first game with a score of 25-17. After Edinboro tied for game point (24-24) in the second, it was a back and forth scoring battle between the two teams until the end result went to Gannon with a score of 30-28. The third set went to Edinboro with a close 25-20 score. In another close set, Gannon took the fourth with a score of 25-23, bringing the game into a fifth and deciding game. Edinboro scored the first two points of this set, but the score went back and forth; Gannon scored points four through seven in a row and then the scores went back and forth again until the end. This continued until Gannon hit match point. In the end, it was Gannon to come out on top in this set with a score of 15-13.

Litwiler, who had 22 kills, two aces, one block, two assists and 28 digs, was a leading player of this game. Jackson with 17 kills and two blocks, Trathen with 50 assists and 14 digs and Jessica Giannaccaro were also named leading players.

Next up for the Scots is a semifinals PSAC match against University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, in Erie at the Hammermill Center on Friday. The game begins at 5 p.m.

Madi Gross can be reached at sports.spectator@gmail.com

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