Olson Records Team-High 12 Kills as Volleyball Battles Bridgeport in ECC Matchup
Box Score DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Sept. 22, 2016) – Despite a team high 12 kills from sophomore Peyton Olson (Albany, Ore./West Albany), the Mercy College volleyball team dropped a 3-0 (29-31, 16-25, 11-25) decision to the University of Bridgeport in an ECC matchup on Thursday night at Victory Gymnasium.
The Mavericks (0-3, 0-2 ECC) drop their third straight match to begin the season, while the Purple Knights (2-5, 2-0 ECC) earn their second straight win.
Also, contributing for Mercy was sophomore Brianna Heffernan (East Islip, N.Y./East Islip) who had a team high 12 digs, while sophomore Brooke Runge (Closter, N.J./Northern Valley Demarest) had a team high 20 assists. Senior Andrea Velasco (Whittier, Calif./Rio Hondo College) added four kills and seven digs and sophomore Toni Parente (East Patchogue, N.Y./Bellport) chipped in six digs.
Bridgeport was led by Sara Cruz who had a match high 13 kills, while Amelie Guinci brought up a match high 14 digs. Ellie Rich dished out a match high 30 assists.
The opening set of the match saw the Mavericks jump out to a 7-5 lead before the guests responded with four straight to take back the lead at 9-7. The Purple Knights built the lead up to 23-14 and looked to be on their way to an easy first-set victory. However, Mercy was not going to back down to the 2015 NCAA Tournament participant as they scored four consecutive points to make it 23-18. Bridgeport responded with a point to get to set point, but the Mavericks came back with seven straight points to take a 25-24 lead, forcing two Purple Knights timeouts along the way.
Bridgeport evened up the set at 25-25 before the two teams traded points and the scored stood at 29-29. The Purple Knights closed the set with two straight points following Mercy attack errors to take the first set, 31-29.
The Purple Knights jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the second set and did not look back as they took the second set, 25-16, to take a 2-0 lead.
The final set of the night saw the Mavericks take an early 2-1 lead before Bridgeport rattled off nine of the next ten points to build a 10-3 lead. The Purple Knights built the lead to 13-4 before Mercy cut it to seven, 13-6, following a pair of Bridgeport attack errors. The momentum was short-lived as the Purple Knights ensued with a 9-2 run to build a 22-8 lead and held on for the victory.
Mercy hit a season high .065 on the night with 24 kills and 35 digs, while Bridgeport hit .309 with 46 kills and 46 digs.
Head Coach Georgia Efthalitsides and the Mavericks resume action on Saturday, September 24th when they take part in a tri-match at Nyack College. Mercy takes on Georgian Court at 2 p.m. before facing Nyack at 4 p.m.
