FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The Sacred Heart University women's volleyball team shook off a slow start to defeat Lafayette College on the opening day of the SHU Invitational. The Pioneers dropped the first two sets, but came back for the 3-2 (22-25, 20-25, 25-19, 26-24, 18-16) victory on Friday.

Records:
Sacred Heart: 4-3
Lafayette: 2-3

Top Performers:
Jasmine Rogers (SHU): 14 kills, 15 digs
Reghan Palanchi (SHU): 10 kills, 6 blocks
Leanna Deegan (LC): 36 kills, 14 digs

Up Next:
The SHU Invitational continues Saturday with the Pioneers taking on UC Irvine at 1 p.m. followed by Fairfield at 7 p.m.

Of Note:
After cruising to the third set, Sacred Heart found itself down 24-21 in set four. Lafayette helped the Pioneers by committing a trio of errors then a pair of blocks by Mackenize Eford forced a deciding set.
 
The hosts got out to a 12-9 lead in final stanza thanks to a Reghan Palanchi kill. Lafayette managed to hold off three match points before Jasmine Rogers and Sarah Ciszek ripped back-to-back kills to complete the comeback. 
 
SHU narrowly lost the opening set and let the second frame slip away by giving up a 9-3 run midway through the set.
 
The offense greatly increased as the match wore on with the Pioneers hold a .289-to-.238 hitting advantage. SHU's blocking was a big factor with Sacred Heart rejecting 13 balls to just one block by Lafayette. Palanchi had six stuffs while Eford added five.
 
Five different Pioneers had eight or more kills, topped by Rogers with 14 winners and 12 digs for her third double-double in a row. Dominique Felix had a dozen kills and Palanchi added 10. Libero Emma Smallcomb notched 22 digs.
 
Conversely, over half of Lafayette's 70 kills came from Leanna Deegan as she had 36 kills and 14 digs.