WEST CHESTER, Pa.- The West Chester University women's volleyball team (9-11) returned home on Monday evening to begin a three-game homestand vs non-league foe Caldwell. After dropping the first two sets, West Chester roared back to force a fifth set, but the upset-minded Cougars escaped with a narrow 15-13 fifth set victory to take the match by a 3-2 (25-21, 26-24, 13-25, 13-25, 15-13) final.

West Chester jumped out to a 7-3 lead early, but Caldwell battled back in the opening set, eventually taking a 17-15 lead over the Golden Rams, prompting the first timeout of the match by West Chester. Caldwell continued its run out of the timeout, eventually stretching its lead to 21-15. Following its second timeout of the first set, West Chester went on a 5-1 run, cutting the Cougar advantage to 22-20, prompting the first Caldwell timeout of the night. West Chester continued to battle back but it was Caldwell who closed out the opening set with a 25-21 victory to take a 1-0 lead in the match.

The two sides traded points through the early going of the second set, but Caldwell held a 14-9 lead midway through, prompting the first WCU timeout of the second set. West Chester responded to the timeout, going on a 5-3 run to cut the deficit to 17-14 before eventually trimming the deficit to 19-18 late in the set. West Chester battled back and evened the score at 24-24 but Caldwell closed out the set with a 26-24 victory to take a 2-0 lead in the match.

Needing a victory to extend the match, West Chester jumped out to a 15-9 lead over Caldwell, prompting an early Cougar timeout. West Chester continued to extend its lead, stretching the advantage to 18-11 entering the late stages of the third set. West Chester used its advantage to earn a crucial 25-13 third-set victory, forcing a fourth set. West Chester turned in its best hitting-performance of the evening in the third set victory, hitting a blistering .423, logging 14 kills on 26 swings with just three errors to extend the match.

Riding its momentum from the third set, West Chester took a 14-7 lead to start the fourth set, prompting an early Caldwell timeout in an attempt to halt a 5-0 Golden Ram run. West Chester stretched its lead to 19-11 before the Cougars began to rally, cutting into the deficit, making the score 19-13 in favor of the Golden Rams. West Chester extended its lead to 23-13 late in the fourth, prompting the final Caldwell timeout of the set. West Chester closed out the set with a 2-0 run, taking the fourth set by a 25-13 final to even the score at 2-2, and force a decisive fifth set.

Caldwell started the fifth set with an early run, which saw the visitors take a 6-3 lead, forcing an early WCU timeout. Trailing 8-5 at the changeover, West Chester battled back to even the set at 8-8 but Caldwell did not keep things tied for long, answering with a quick run to take a 10-8 lead over the Golden Rams, leading to final WCU timeout of the match. West Chester and Caldwell continued to trade points down the stretch, finding themselves tied at 10-10 and again at 13-13 but the visitors closed out the match with a 15-13 victory to pull off the upset in Hollinger on Monday evening.

Zoe Haines (York, Pa./York Suburban), Abiah Lane (Ardmore, Pa./Lower Merion), and Hailey Lewis (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown West) ended the match tied for the match-lead in kills with 11 each, while Megan St. Jean (Eaton, Co./Eaton) and Jamie Byrne (Bethlehem, Pa./Liberty) ended the day with 30 and 23 assists, respectively. Lexy Caltabiano (Woolwich Twp, N.J./GCIT) tied with Byrne for a team-high four aces, while Sydney Heffner (Bath, Pa./Northampton) added three of her own along with a team-high 28 digs.

For Caldwell, Amanda Schiltz led the way with a team-best 11 kills, while Reese Sherwood, dished out 37 assists along with a team-best four aces, and 13 digs to help lead the Cougars to the upset victory over the Golden Rams.

Up Next:

West Chester remains home this weekend for a pair of important matches against perennial powers Shippensburg (Friday) and Shepherd (Saturday) on what will also be the Golden Rams annual "Dig Pink" weekend in support of the fight against Breast Cancer.