Olson Finishes With Match-High 14 Kills as Volleyball Travels to Dowling in ECC Tilt
Box Score OAKDALE, N.Y. (Sept. 29, 2015) – Despite a match-high 14 kills from freshman Peyton Olson (Albany, Ore./West Albany), the Mercy College volleyball team suffered a, 3-0 (14-25, 20-25, 12-25), setback to East Coast Conference (ECC) foe Dowling College on Tuesday night at Dowling Gymnasium.
The Mavericks (4-11, 0-3 ECC) remain winless in league play, while the Golden Lions (11-4, 2-1 ECC) have now won two in a row.
Olson continued her strong play with an efficient .355 hitting percentage and added five digs. Junior Floriana Rraci (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y./Walter Panas) ended the match with 11 digs, while senior Abigail Foti (Bedford, N.H./Bedford) and sophomore Sa'Naya Johnson (Elizabeth, N.J./Elizabeth) each contributed four kills. Freshman setter Toni Parente (East Patchogue, N.Y./Bellport) dished out 16 assists and had six digs.
Mikalah Hughes led Dowling offensively with 12 kills, while Taylor Tekeda had a match-high 16 digs.
Mercy had no answer for a Golden Lions offense that hit an impressive .412 on the night and had 45 kills. The score was tied early on at 6-6 in the opening set following an Olson service ace before the home team rattled off three straight to take a 9-6 lead. After the Mavericks cut the deficit to 9-7, Dowling responded with a 7-0 run to take a 16-7 advantage and would lead the rest of the way to take a 1-0 lead.
The second set saw Mercy jump out to an 18-14 lead and looked to be on the verge of evening up the match before the Golden Lions came back with seven of the next eight points to build a 21-19 margin, forcing a Mavericks timeout. Foti slammed home a kill immediately out of the timeout to make it 21-20, but Dowling ended the set on a 4-0 run to take a two-set lead.
A Brianna Heffernan (East Islip, N.Y./East Islip) kill in the third set evened the score up at 7-7, but the Golden Lions ensued with a 15-4 run to take a 22-11 lead and held on for the victory.
The Mavericks hit a respectable .147 on the night with 27 kills and 43 digs, but could not contain the Dowling offense.
Head Coach Kelly Wengerter and the Mavericks will return to action on Thursday, October 1st at 7 p.m. with a road matchup against fellow ECC member Bridgeport.
