Volleyball Swept by Saint Anselm and Assumption
Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 WORCESTER, MASS. (Oct. 15, 2011) – On Saturday afternoon the Mercy College volleyball team faced off against Saint Anselm College and Assumption College in a tri-match in Worcester, Mass. and left with 3-0 losses in both matches.
Mercy's record falls to 7-17 on the season while Saint Anselm improves to 7-11 with a 2-0 day and Assumption split its games to close the day with a 6-16 record.
Mercy 0, Saint Anselm 3
Mercy got off to a slow start against Saint Anselm, surrendering the first three points and allowing a six-point run to go down 14-5. The Hawks held at least a seven-point edge for the remainder of the set to win 25-15. The second set was not much kinder to the Mavericks, as they kept things close at the start but quickly fell behind as the Hawks stretched out to an 18-9 lead before a late Mercy rally trimmed the final score line to 25-19. The third set brought more of the same as Mercy fell behind early and kept things tight for a while before Saint Anselm exploded on a 7-1 run to take a 10-point lead and after another six-point Mercy rally on match point closed the match out, 25-21.
Freshman outside hitter Brenna White (Gardnerville, Nev.) led the match with 14 kills and got some help from sophomore outside hitter Nicolette Gebhardt (Middletown, N.Y.), who posted 12. Freshman setter McKenna Ronan (Chandler, Ariz.) tallied 17 assists and freshman libero Ericka Kane (Glendale, Ariz.) made eight digs and served the team's only ace.
Senior outside hitter Charlotte Tencza (Greenfield, Mass.) and sophomore outside hitter Kyla Gustavson (Nashua, N.H.) each smashed nine kills to lead the Hawks, while freshman setter Natalie Steinwart (Aurora, Ill.) recorded match highs with 27 assists and four service aces. Junior defensive specialist Margaret Tereschuk (Mission Viejo, Calif.) also led the match with 10 digs.
Mercy 0, Assumption 3
The Greyhounds set the tone for the match by taking the first four points to open the first set and held the edge throughout to go up 1-0. The Mavericks responded in the second set by taking the opening three points but were quickly caught and could only hold on for so long until Assumption scored five of the final six points to take the set. Assumption jumped in front again for the third set but Mercy recovered and even took the lead at 18-17 but allowed eight of the final 10 points to suffer another sweep.
White led the match with 17 kills, and on a .389 hitting percentage with only three errors. Ronan added 20 assists and tied with White with two service aces while Kane notched eight digs to lead the team.
Sophomore outside hitter Mary Johnston (Pearland, Texas) led the Greyhounds with 10 kills on a .364 hitting percentage, while sophomore setter Kristin Flatekval (Mahwah, N.J.) made a match-high 25 assists and sophomore libero Lauren Ostafin (Avon, Conn.) topped the squad with eight digs. Senior middle hitter Sam Lupinski (Waltham, Mass.) added eight well-placed kills (.583 hitting percentage) and sophomore middle hitter Ryan Merle (Skaneateles, N.Y.) contributed another seven kills and 2.5 total blocks.
Head Coach Alan Clements and the Mavericks (7-17 overall, 2-4 in the ECC) will try to take a step back toward .500 in the East Coast Conference on Thursday as they travel to NYIT (13-6, 6-2), by which they were swept in three sets earlier in the season. Start time is slated for 7:00 p.m.
