Olson Records Season-High 22 Kills as Volleyball Earns Four-Set Victory Over ECC Foe Molloy
Box Score DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Sept. 29, 2016) – Powered by a match high 22 kills from sophomore Peyton Olson (Albany, Ore./West Albany) and a match high 21 digs from sophomore Brianna Heffernan (East Islip, N.Y. / East Islip), the Mercy College volleyball team earned a 3-1 (25-22, 25-16, 23-25, 25-22) victory over East Coast Conference (ECC) foe Molloy College on Thursday night at Victory Gymnasium.
The Mavericks (1-6, 1-3 ECC) pick up their first win of the season and first-ever win at Victory Gymnasium, while the Lions (2-14, 0-3 ECC) remain winless in ECC play. The win is also the first for Head Coach Georgia Efthalitsides as head coach of the Mavericks.
Olson added 12 digs and two assists along with her season-high 22 kills, while Heffernan added two assists of her own. Junior Sa'Naya Johnson (Elizabeth, N.J. / Elizabeth) also added a season high 13 kills and two assists for the Mavericks victory. Orchestrating the offense was sophomore setter Brooke Runge (Closter, N.J. / Northern Valley Demarest) who dished out a season high 45 assists. Sophomore Leah Petty (Philadelphia, Pa./Science Leadership Academy) netted 10 kills and senior Andrea Velasco (Whittier, Calif./Rio Hondo College) finished with six kills and ten digs.
The Lions were led by Shannon Wren, who recorded 16 kills and one assist. Sophia Smith dished out 17 assists for Molloy while teammate Dakota O'Neill added 14 digs.
Molloy took an 18-12 lead in the first set and looked to be on their way to closing out the set. However, the Mavericks had different plans as they responded with six straight points to even the score up at 18-18. The Lions took a 19-18 lead on a kill by Wren, but that was their last lead of the set as Mercy came back with four straight points to take the lead for good.
The second set saw the Lions jump out to a 1-0 lead, but that was their only lead of the frame as the Mavericks ensued with a 9-1 run to take a 9-2 lead. Mercy cruised the rest of the set, aided by five kills from Olson, to take a commanding 2-0 lead.
The Mavericks looked to close out the match in three sets, but the Lions would overcome a 19-12 deficit to take the set, 25-23, forcing a fourth set.
Mercy got off to an 8-4 start in the fourth set, forcing a Molloy timeout after back-to-back kills from Olson. The Lions immediately responded with a kill to make it 8-5 before the Mavericks followed with a 6-2 spurt to make it 14-7, forcing another Molloy timeout. Mercy would continue to lead the rest of the way and faced match point with the score at 24-17. The Lions put up one last fight as they scored five straight points looking to force a fifth set, but a Runge kill sealed the match to give the Mavericks their first victory of the season.
The Mavericks hit a season best .212 for the night and finished with 57 kills and 65 digs in the match. The Lions ended the night hitting .148 and recorded 41 kills and 57 digs.
Head Coach Georgia Efthalitsides and the Mavericks will look to build off the win as they travel to American International University to take on Saint Anselm College and AIC on Saturday, Oct. 1 beginning at 2 pm.
