Portsmouth, OH – The UC volleyball team had three players tally double-digit kills but it wasn't enough as the Patriots fell to Shawnee State 3-1 (24-26, 25-20, 18-25, 20-25) in their regular season finale Thursday night. With the win the Bears improve to 13-18 and 3-10 in the MSC while the Patriots fall to 22-12 overall and 7-7 in conference play. 

It was a back-and-forth match right from first serve as Tara Routliffe found Ashley Sobocinski to give the Patriots a 3-2 lead.  Cumberlands extended their lead to 8-5 on a Lynsey Short kill, before Shawnee State went on a 7-1 run to take a 12-9 lead.  After Shawnee State extended their lead to 15-11, UC rallied with taking four of the next five points with kills from Leah Crist, Sobocinski, and Abbie Genders to cut the deficit to 16-15.  The two teams traded points until a Mackenzie Koch kill evened the score at 19-19.  The score was tied five more times however the Bears won the set 26-24 to take a 1-0 lead.

UC looked to even the match in the second set as Short found Crist and Sobocinski for kills to give the Patriots a 2-1 advantage.  Later in the set, Megan Jackson notched back-to-back kills as part of a 4-0 run to give Cumberlands a 7-4 lead.  Shawnee cut into the lead however Patriots scored seven unanswered points, including a pair of blocks by Jackson, to extend their led to 14-6 lead. The Bears responded with a 10-3 run of their own to make it 17-16. Cumberlands used runs of three and two points to extend their lead as Koch capped it off with a kill to give the Patriots the set 25-20 and even the match at 1-1.

The Patriots look to take the third and fourth sets but could answers Shawnee States runs as the Bears took the sets 25-18 and 25-20, respectfully for the 3-1 final.

Sobocinski led the way for the Patriots with 13 kills and five digs, while Jackson added 12 kills and three blocks.  Koch chipped in 11 kills and eight digs.  Short dished out 43 assists in the match as Routliffe added a team-high 11 kills.  Jen Stein and Rebekah Fischer finished with ten kills apiece.

 The Patriots will return to action Thursday, November 8, when travel to Bowling Green, KY for the quarterfinals of the Mid-South Conference Tournament.  The Patriots have secured the fourth-seed in the tournament.

For the latest and most up-to-date information on University of the Cumberlands Athletics, please visit www.cumberlandspatriots.com. Follow us on Twitter - @UC_Patriots, Instagram - @UCPatriots, SnapChat - @UC_Patriots, YouTube – Cumberlands Patriots, and Facebook by searching University of the Cumberlands Athletics.