Frostburg State University Athletics

FROSTBURG, Md. – The Frostburg State Volleyball team earned a hard-fought 3-2 victory at home over West Liberty on Monday evening.
 
Prior to the match, FSU honored its three seniors in Alyssa Stanton, Maya Johnson, and Raegan Philips as they round out their Bobcat careers.
 
Set one opened with the sides trading points back-and-forth up to a 3-3 tie, as senior Grace Yocham, sophomore Alliyah McNair, and Johnson each recorded kills. Frostburg then took the first bit of momentum, as back-to-back WLU errors helped spark an 8-3 run, where sophomore Adele Evans and Johnson found the floor and Philips put up a block to lead 11-6. The Hilltoppers slowly began to crawl their way back into the set, using a couple two-point rallies to eventually pull back within 14-12. FSU got themselves a bit of breathing room as Evans kicked off a 7-1 run with a kill, while freshman Miranda Ball put up an ace, classmate Temerah Holloway had back-to-back scores, and Philips and Yocham each notched a spike to go up 21-13. McNair put down a pair of attacks to inch the Bobcats closer, as after a quick 3-1 West Liberty run, Evans found the floor before joining Johnson on a set-ending block at 25-17.
 
WLU hoped to quickly shake off the loss, opening the second frame by netting four of the first five points, which they eventually used to establish a 9-4 advantage. Frostburg fought back with Evans and Holloway having kills during a 4-1 run, with the latter also combining with Philips on a block to pull within 10-8. From that point the set would be all Hilltoppers, as they put up 10 of the next 13 points to surge ahead 20-11. In the late stages, Holloway and Yocham each netted a score with the visitors evening the match up at 25-13.
 
A West Liberty error and McNair kill gave the Bobcats the first two points of the third set, then after the visitors responded, McNair notched another pair of kills with a Ball ace putting FSU ahead 7-3. WLU hit back with three in a row, making it a back-and-forth affair up to a 10-9 score. Johnson put up an ace to put Frostburg up by three, however the Hilltoppers used a kill, block, and ace of their own to score four unanswered and take a 13-12 lead. Ball and sophomore Bailey Rafferty then caught fire from the service line, combining for five aces in leading a 10-2 Bobcat run, where McNair, Evans, and Yocham each tacked on a kill and the latter two combined on a block in going ahead 22-15. West Liberty tried to put up a fight with three of the next four but a pair of serving errors were followed by a block between Holloway and freshman Gabrielle Morris in taking a 25-18 set victory.
 
Hoping to stay alive in the match and force a fifth set, WLU came out with intensity in the fourth frame, scoring the first six points with a trio of kills coming from Adrienne Staib. McNair helped Frostburg get some offense with three scores of her own, as Yocham added one more to get within 9-5. As they had done in the second set, the Hilltoppers went on a surging run, scoring five in a row and nine of the next eleven to take an 18-7 lead. Philips had the next two Bobcat kills, with McNair and Evans also chipping in before West Liberty eventually put things away at 25-13 to send things into a do-or-die finale.
 
The Hilltoppers took the first swings in the deciding frame, putting down the first two points before Morris and McNair responded in tying things at 3-3. It appeared that WLU would earn another of their set-deciding runs with four in a row, however a service error quelled the threat, with freshman Rhea Shetty hitting an ace and Yocham finding the floor to stay within 8-6. After the sides traded points, Frostburg suddenly got back into the set, as three West Liberty errors combined with Johnson pounding a pair down the the floor and a Morris-McNair block put them ahead 13-11. Out of a Hilltopper timeout, Johnson made it match point on an ace before McNair flushed down a kill to take the 15-11 set and match win.
 
McNair led the attack with 13 kills, as Ball drove the defensive effort on 21 digs while also putting up four aces.
 
With the win, Frostburg improves to 10-15 on the year, while West Liberty drops to 10-19. The Bobcats will play their regular season finale on Thursday, November 5 as they travel to face Fairmont State at 7 p.m. Information and updates will be posted to frostburgsports.com.