DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Oct. 1, 2019) – Powered by a match-high 14 kills from senior Imani DeBose (Carson, Calif./The College of New Rochelle), the Mercy College volleyball team earned a 3-0 (25-15, 26-24, 25-17) victory over Saint Michael's College on Tuesday night at the Victory Hall Sports Center.
The Mavericks (6-9) have won two matches in a row, while the Purple Knights (1-9) have dropped five matches in a row.
DeBose had 14 kills and hit .241 and sophomore Loreto Nunez Casal (Pontevedra, Spain/Sagrado Corazon De Jesus) had nine kills. Junior Natalia Garcia (Vega Baja, P.R./Turabo University) recorded six kills, 26 assists and three digs and sophomore Selma Vulic (New Rochelle, N.Y./New Rochelle) had six kills and 13 digs. Junior Adriana Lopez-Soto (Gurabo, P.R./Notre Dame HS) had eight digs and freshman Stéphanie Lankhorst (Apeldoorn, Netherlands/Koninklijke Scholengemeenschap Apeldoorn) had a match-high eight aces.
The Purple Knights were led by Sarah Scott who had a team-high 11 kills.
The two teams were tied at 4-4 in the opening set following a Nunez Casal kill. Mercy followed with an 11-5 run, capped off by another Nunez Casal kill, which made it 15-9. After a Saint Michael's timeout, Mercy went on an 8-4 run to build a 23-13 lead following a Garcia kill and held on for the 25-15 victory in set one.
Mercy jumped out to a 7-3 lead in set two following four straight aces from Lankhorst. The Purple Knights cut the deficit to one, 13-12, but the Mavericks followed with four straight points to take a 17-12 lead after a Garcia kill. Mercy held a 23-18 lead late in the set and looked to have the set well in hand. However, Saint Michael's went on a 6-1 run to tie the set up at 24-24, leading to a Mercy timeout. The Mavericks responded following the timeout with two straight points to take the set, 26-24.
The Mavericks scored the first four points of the third set and led the rest of the way with Garcia recording a kill to give Mercy the set, 25-17, and match in three sets.
Mercy hit .260 with 43 kills and 33 digs and Saint Michael's hit .232 with 22 kills and 26 digs.
Head Coach Georgia Efthalitsides and the Mavericks resume action on Friday, October 4th when they play at Daemen at 6 p.m.
