FLUSHING, N.Y. (Nov. 16, 2019) – Powered by junior Adriana Lopez-Soto (Gurabo, P.R./Notre Dame HS) recording her 1,000th career dig, the Mercy College volleyball team earned a 3-0 (25-18, 25-20, 25-14) victory over ECC foe Queens College in their regular season finale on Saturday afternoon at Fitzgerald Gymnasium.
The Mavericks (14-17, 5-5 ECC) match their win total from last year and finish .500 or better in ECC play for the first time since 2005. Mercy has secured the No. 4 seed in the ECC Championship and will play at No. 1 seed Molloy in a Semifinal on Friday, November 22nd. The Knights (2-19, 0-10 ECC) end their season with six straight losses.
Lopez-Soto now has 1,006 career digs after having eight digs on the day with five aces. Sophomore Loreto Nunez Casal (Pontevedra, Spain/Sagrado Corazon De Jesus) and senior Imani DeBose (Carson, Calif./The College of New Rochelle) had a match-high-tying nine kills. Junior Natalia Garcia (Vega Baja, P.R./Turabo University) had a match-high 28 assists and sophomore Selma Vulic (New Rochelle, N.Y./New Rochelle) had nine digs.
Queens was led by Briana Green who had a match-high-tying nine kills.
The opening set saw the Knights jump out an 11-7 lead. However, the Mavericks battled back and went on an 8-2 run, capped off by a Lopez-Soto ace, which gave Mercy a 15-13 lead. Queens later retook the lead at 17-16, but the Mavericks answered with a 9-1 run, finished off by a Nunez Casal kill, which gave Mercy the set one win, 25-18.
Queens took a 14-12 lead in set two and led 20-19 late in the set. Mercy ended the set on a 6-0 run with Lopez-Soto recording a kill to give the Mavericks a 25-20 set two win.
Mercy jumped out to a 10-3 lead in set three following a Nunez Casal kill. The Mavericks led the rest of the way in securing the set with Lopez-Soto finishing off the set and match with back-to-back aces.
Mercy hit .283 with 37 kills and 36 digs and Queens hit .218 with 28 kills and 37 digs.
Head Coach Georgia Efthalitsides and the Mavericks resume action on Friday, November 22nd when they play at Molloy in an ECC Semifinal at a time to be announced.
