WINCHESTER, Va. – Friday the 13th turned out to be unlucky for the Shenandoah University volleyball team as visiting Randolph outlasted SU in a 3-2 ODAC victory for the WildCats.
Randolph (8-12, 3-6 ODAC) won the first, third and fifth sets, taking the fifth, 17-15, to earn the win over the Hornets (6-15, 0-7).
Shenandoah won 25-18 in the second and forced the deciding fifth set with a 25-15 win in the fourth, but could not pull out the victory.
SU nearly pulled off that win by fighting off two match points in the fifth after having recovered from a 5-1 deficit to tie the set at 9-9. The two teams were then tied at 10 and 11 before a Randolph attack error followed by a Kaitlyn Kelley kill gave the hosts a 13-11 lead.
The 'Cats answered with three straight points to put themselves one point for the win – Shenandoah fought off the match point at 14-13 and again at 15-14, but could not stop Randolph's third chance at victory.
Kelley led SU with 12 kills while Caylin Harris added 10 and Emily Cheatwood eight.
Megan Hillyard and Emily Veach had 27 and 10 assists, respectively.
Defensively, Nicole Shannon led five women in double figure digs with 19.
The Hornets step out-of-conference on Tuesday with a 7 p.m. match at the Catholic University of America.
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