Volleyball Holds On to Top Queens in Five Sets for Second Straight Conference Win
Box Score BOXSCORE – Mercy vs. Queens
DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Oct. 6, 2011) – On Thursday night, the Mercy College volleyball team hosted Queens College (2-8 overall, 0-4 in the ECC) hoping to build on their big win over C.W. Post earlier in the week. After a close first set the Mavericks dominated the second and looked on their way to an easy win until Queens fought back to force a fifth set, but Mercy jumped out early and held on for the victory, their second straight in the East Coast Conference.
Mercy's record improves to 7-11 overall and 2-2 in the ECC, while Queens drops to 2-9 (0-5).
The Mavericks beat out Queens for the first set, 25-22, and rode a six-point run to a commanding 19-10 lead that they easily held to take the second set, 25-16. Queens took early leads in the next two sets, however, killing Mercy's momentum and allowing the Knights to claw back into the match with 25-13 and 25-20 scores to force a fifth set. After a slow start in the fifth, the Mavericks took eight straight points with junior setter Rebecca Lynch (Oceanside, N.Y.) serving most of her six aces over the match to jump out to a 12-4 lead and traded points the rest of the way, winning the match on a Knights service error.
Freshman outside hitter Brenna White (Gardnerville, Nev.) kept up her torrid kill pace that has her ranked No. 7 in the nation, leading the match with 24 to bump her kills-per-set up to 4.53. She also tied two career highs, making 1.5 total blocks and 20 digs for the double-double. Most notable was her .405 hitting percentage as she made just seven errors.
Sophomore outside hitter Nicolette Gebhardt (Middletown, N.Y.) added 10 kills, including some clutch shots during the decisive fifth-set run. Lynch and freshmen setter McKenna Ronan (Chandler, Ariz.) combined for 37 assists, including a career-high 26 by Ronan. Freshman libero Christina Bjerstedt (Lebanon, Ohio) contributed 12 digs and senior right side hitter Crasheena Ward (Danbury, Conn.) continued an impressive week, hitting eight kills without an error for a .667 hitting percentage and making 3.0 total blocks, running her total over the past five matches to 8.5.
Senior middle blocker Jovana Pavlovic (Belgrade, Serbia) led the Queens attack with 19 kills and five service aces as senior setter Stephanie Schroeder (Lynbrook, N.Y.) and sophomore setter Ceren Kilic (Istanbul, Turkey) combined to set for 32 assists. Pavlovic tied for the team high with junior outside hitter Suzanne Byrne (Richmond, B.C.), each making 14 digs, giving Pavlovic a double-double as well. Schroeder added 3.5 blocks to lead the match.
Head Coach Alan Clements and the Mavericks will take a break from their two-win conference streak to host a tri-match on Saturday. Mercy will face Southern Connecticut State University (11-5) at 12:00 p.m. and American International College (7-9) at 4:00 p.m.
