Olson Puts Down Match-High 15 Kills as Volleyball Hosts Bridgeport
Box Score DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Oct. 29, 2015) – Despite a match-high 15 kills from freshman Peyton Olson (Albany, Ore./West Albany), the Mercy College volleyball team dropped a hard fought, 3-1 (25-20, 10-25, 18-25, 18-25) decision to the University of Bridgeport on Thursday night at Mercy Gymnasium.
The Mavericks (6-23, 1-11 ECC) drop the season series to the Purple Knights (18-8, 11-1 ECC) who have won two in a row.
Olson also finished with seven digs, while sophomore Sa'Naya Johnson (Elizabeth, N.J./Elizabeth) had 11 kills on .381 hitting. Freshman Brianna Heffernan (East Islip, N.Y./East Islip) ended the night with a match-high 20 digs and fellow freshman Eva Marie Lynch (New Windsor, N.Y./Cornwall) slammed home eight kills. Freshman Brooke Runge (Closter, N.J./Northern Valley Demarest) helped orchestrate the offense with 22 assists.
Bridgeport received double-digit kills from four different Purple Knights led by Frida Randen who had a team-high 13 kills.
Mercy put up one of their best performances of the season, taking a set from the first place Purple Knights for the first time since October 2, 2012.
The Mavericks got off to a strong start with a 4-0 run to start the match and led 13-10 midway through the set in front of an energized crowd. Bridgeport fought back and evened up the score at 17-17 before Mercy followed with a 3-0 spurt to retake the lead at 20-17. The Purple Knights got within one, 20-19, but the Mavericks closed off the frame with five of the next six points to take the opening set over first place Bridgeport.
The second set saw the visitors establish why they are one of the premier programs in the conference as they took a 5-5 score and turned it into a 20-8 lead and cruised the rest of the way to even up the match at 1-1.
Mercy jumped out to a 15-11 lead in the third set following an Andrea Velasco (Whittier, Calif./Rio Hondo College) kill, but once again the Purple Knights bounced back to knot the score up at 15-15. The Mavericks regained the lead at 18-15, forcing a Bridgeport timeout and out of the stoppage the guests rattled off ten straight points to close out the set and take a 2-1 advantage.
The final set of the night saw the two teams even at 14-14 following an Olson kill, but the Purple Knights went on a 5-1 run to take a 19-15 lead and held on to close out the set and match.
Mercy hit .171 on the night with 42 kills and 54 digs, while Bridgeport concluded the evening hitting .323 with 53 kills and 55 digs.
Head Coach Kelly Wengerter and the Mavericks will look to build off the strong performance as they play at Queens on Tuesday, November 3rd at 7 p.m.
