ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. (Oct. 9, 2019) – Despite a match-high nine kills from sophomore Loreto Nunez Casal (Pontevedra, Spain/Sagrado Corazon De Jesus), the Mercy College volleyball team dropped a 3-0 (13-25, 19-25, 11-25) decision to ECC foe Molloy College on Wednesday night at Quealy Gymnasium.

The Mavericks (7-11, 1-3 ECC) fail to build off their win over Roberts Wesleyan on Saturday, while the Lions (15-3, 5-0 ECC) remain perfect in ECC play and have won seven matches in a row.

Nunez Casal had nine kills and junior Natalia Garcia (Vega Baja, P.R./Turabo University) had 18 assists, eight digs and four kills. Junior Adriana Lopez-Soto (Gurabo, P.R./Notre Dame HS) had ten digs and senior Imani DeBose (Carson, Calif./The College of New Rochelle) and freshman Stéphanie Lankhorst (Apeldoorn, Netherlands/ Koninklijke Scholengemeenschap Apeldoorn) both had four kills.

Molloy was led by Kacey Affrunti and Carly Banks who both had a team-high eight kills.

Mercy took a 3-0 lead in set one after a Lankhorst kill and two Molloy attack errors. The Mavericks later held a 5-4 lead after a Nunez Casal kill before the Lions went on an 11-1 run to take a 15-6 lead. Molloy led the rest of the set, earning a 25-13 victory to take a 1-0 lead.

DeBose recorded the first point of the second set on a kill to give Mercy an early lead. Molloy responded with four points in a row to take a 4-1 lead before the Mavericks came back and cut the deficit to one, 6-5, after a Selma Vulic (New Rochelle, N.Y./New Rochelle) kill. Molloy built the lead to 9-5 before two straight points got Mercy within two, 9-7. However, the hosts went on a 9-4 spurt to increase their lead to 18-11 late in the set. The Mavericks continued to battle and went on an 8-3 run to cut the Molloy lead to 21-19. The Lions would close the set on a 4-0 run to earn a 25-19 victory in the set and take a 2-0 lead in the match.

The Lions took a 13-1 lead in set three and did not look back in taking the set, 25-11, to win the match in three sets.

Mercy hit .009 with 25 kills and 36 digs and Molloy hit .267 with 35 kills and 52 digs.

Head Coach Georgia Efthalitsides and the Mavericks resume action on Saturday, October 12th when they play New Haven and Le Moyne at New Haven starting at 2:30 p.m.