Rams open season with wins over Bowie State and Virginia State; lose in three sets to Concord

By Bob Madison - For the Chronicle | Sep 12, 2025

Davis

SHEPHERDSTOWN — Shepherd University began its 2025 volleyball season in the multi-team Virginia State Opening Week Invitational last Friday in Ettrick, Va. The Rams had a 24-6 overall record in 2024.

A season-opening 3-0 win over Bowie State gave the Rams some momentum to begin the new season.

The game scores, all favoring Shepherd, were 25-17, 25-11 and 27-25.

Statistically, Sophia Ryan had 11 kills, with Ada McCoy registering 10 kills and Rylee Lenz getting eight more. Macy Buso had 32 assists with Madigan Faircloth having 23 digs and Gracie Zartman being credited with eight digs.

In the next match on opening night, Shepherd defeated host Virginia State, 3-0. Those game scores were 25-24, 25-21 and 25-15.

Zartman

McCoy had 12 kills and Ryan had nine kills. Buso had 25 assists and Faircloth had 17 digs.

Next came Concord of the Mountain East Conference. The Mountain Lions came in unbeaten when they met equally unbeaten Shepherd.

Concord dropped the first two games of the best-of-five match, but then came back to win the next three games and the match, 3-2.

The Rams grabbed the tightly contested first game, 27-25. Shepherd then registered a 25-22 win in game two of the series.

The Mountain Lions began their uphill fight to win the match by taking game three, 25-22. Concord evened the match at two games each, when it posted a 25-18 win in game four. The back-and-forth tone of the night was still evident in game five, when Concord pulled out a 15-13 win to finally end the pressurized match three games to two.

Lenz

McCoy was Shepherd’s team leader in kills with her 15, just ahead of Ryan’s 13 kills. Amya Davis had nine kills. Ryan had five blocks. Buso collected 41 assists. Faircloth was Shepherd’s team leader in digs with 27, while McCoy had 16 digs and Sofia De Los Mozos was credited with 15 digs.

The Rams finished with a 2-1 record in the event hosted by Virginia State. Concord showed its 4-0 overall record after dealing the Rams their first loss of the new season.

This weekend, the Rams travel once more as they motor into southern West Virginia to play matches in Institute and Charleston.

This evening, Point Park of the Mountain East Conference provides the competition and then later in the evening the Rams will play West Virginia State, also from the Mountain East Conference.

Shepherd’s first appearance at home in the Butcher Center does not come until Sept. 30, when it will face its first conference match of the season when Shippensburg visits.