JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – The Shippensburg University volleyball team rallied from a 2-0 deficit Friday night to come from behind and win in five sets over Western Division No. 1 seed Edinboro in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Semifinal matchup at Pitt-Johnstown's Sports Center.
 
Set scores were 23-25, 19-25, 25-13, 25-23 and 15-11. SU will face Clarion, the No. 2 seed from the West in tomorrow's championship match at 7 p.m. The Golden Eagles upset East No. 1 seed and host UPJ in five sets in the match following Shippensburg and Edinboro.

Shippensburg (29-8) advances to the PSAC Championship match for the first time since 2004, head coach Leanne Piscotty's first season at SU, and for just the third time since the current iteration of the PSAC Tournament began in 1989. The Raiders are seeking their first PSAC Championship in school history.
 
Edinboro (31-6) hit .384 through the first two sets, totaling 35 kills and just seven errors, but the Raider defense stepped up in the final three sets. The Fighting Scots swung .043 over the final three sets, totaling 28 kills to 23 attack errors.
 
SU, meanwhile, hit .161 or better in each set – including .306 in the third set.
 
Freshman outside hitter Morgan DeFloria was sensational for the Raiders, clubbing a career-high 21 kills – the most by an SU player in a match this season. DeFloria hit .395 in the match, knocking just four errors on 43 attempts.
 
Seniors Taylor Gottshall and Faith Athey were exemplary in the middle on Friday night. Gottshall had nine kills to just one error, hitting .296, and tallied six blocks (five assisted). She is seven block assists shy of the PSAC all-time record. Athey, meanwhile, had seven kills, swung an impressive .417 and had three block assists.
 
Junior Maura Nolan had 52 assists – her second-most in a match this season – to complement five kills, 12 digs, two aces and two block assists. SU's .257 hitting percentage as a team, meanwhile, is the third-best by an opponent against Edinboro this season.
 
Junior Annie Goerl had a team-high 56 swings for the Raiders and contributed her sixth double-double in the last seven games. Goerl had 15 kills and 15 digs, swinging .143.
 
Sophomore Courtney Malott was a steady presence once again, knocking five kills, totaling nine digs and getting up for three block assists.
 
Senior Laura Plank led the Raiders with 19 digs from the back row and also got a kill on a scramble early in the fourth set. Sophomore Maria Peluso had 17 digs, three assists and three of SU's five service aces.
 
Edinboro's Chalen Litwhiler, the PSAC Western Division Player of the Year, hit .000 for the match – 16 kills with 16 attack errors.  Megan Screptock, the PSAC West Freshman of the Year, also had a double-double with 13 kills and 10 digs. Latoya Hutchinson had 16 kills and hit .353.
 
The Raiders led 14-11 in the third set before reeling off seven consecutive points on Gottshall's serve to take control of the frame. A block by Athey and Malott cinched the third set for SU.
 
SU took a 7-5 lead in the fourth set, resulting in an Edinboro timeout. After a long rally resulted in a DeFloria kill on the next point, Edinboro took a second timeout. The Raiders led 17-14 before Edinboro responded with six straight points to lead, 20-17. The Fighting Scots were within two points of winning, holding a 23-21 lead, but the Raiders closed out the frame with four straight points.
 
Shippensburg raced out to leads of 3-1 and 8-4 in the fifth set, forcing Edinboro timeouts. The Fighting Scots within two points of the lead at 10-8, 11-9, and 12-10, but SU scored three of the final four points to win the match.
 
Friday's meeting is the first time that Edinboro and Shippensburg have squared off in the PSAC Semifinals since 2000. The Fighting Scots swept the Raiders that year, 3-0, before falling to Lock Haven in the finals.
 
Edinboro and Shippensburg entered among the best teams in the country defensively. Opponents were hitting just .128 against the Fighting Scots (18th in the country), while the opposition was hitting just .131 against the Raiders (21st in the country).
 
Friday's semifinal also marked the sixth straight meeting between the two teams that went five sets. Earlier this season, Edinboro defeated SU in five sets, 16-14 in the fifth. Dating back to 2005, the two teams have played five sets in 10 of the last 12 meetings.