DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Sept. 6, 2019) – Powered by a team-high 22 kills on the day from senior Imani DeBose (Carson, Calif./The College of New Rochelle), the Mercy College volleyball team earned a 3-1 (25-20, 22-25, 25-14, 25-22) victory over Nyack College before dropping a 3-0 (23-25, 15-25, 18-25) decision to The College of Saint Rose on the opening day of the Long Island Invitational on Friday night at the Victory Hall Sports Center.
The Mavericks (1-1) win their season opener for the second straight year, while the Golden Knights (2-0) beat the Warriors (0-2) in the other match of the day.
Match 1: Mercy 3, Nyack 1
The opening set of the day saw the score tied at 2-2 before Mercy went on a 9-2 run to take an 11-4 lead, forcing a Nyack timeout. Out of the timeout, the Mavericks built the lead to 12-4 on a sophomore Loreto Nunez Casal (Pontevedra, Spain/Sagrado Corazon de Jesus) ace. Mercy held a 16-10 lead following a DeBose kill before Nyack cut the lead to 17-14. The Mavericks put the lead back to eight, 23-15, following back-to-back kills from sophomore Selma Vulic (New Rochelle, N.Y./New Rochelle) and Nunez Casal. Mercy took the first set, 25-20, following a junior Natalia Garcia (Vega Baja, P.R./Turabo University) kill.
The second set saw the teams tied at 9-9 early on after a DeBose kill. The score was then tied at 14-14 before Nyack rattled off three straight points to take a 17-14 lead. Mercy later battled back and tied the score up at 22-22 after a Garcia kill, but Nyack closed the set with three straight points to tie the match up at 1-1.
Mercy took a 10-4 lead in set three after kills from Nunez Casal and Garcia. The Mavericks later made it 21-9 after two kills from Nunez Casal and another from Garcia. Mercy cruised the rest of the way in taking the set, 25-14.
The Mavericks held a narrow 14-13 lead in the fourth set before going on a 6-2 spurt, capped off by a Vulic kill, that put Mercy up 20-15. Mercy led the rest of the way and Vulic capped off the match with a kill to give the Mavericks the season-opening win.
DeBose had a match-high-tying 15 kills and Vulic had 13 kills and 11 digs. Garcia had 35 assists, seven kills and six digs and junior Adriana Lopez-Soto (Gurabo, P.R./Notre Dame HS) had 17 digs. Nunez Casal had 12 kills and senior Jessica Berka (Hicksville, N.Y./St. Dominic) had ten digs.
Nyack was led by Kyra Zuhlke who had a match-high-tying 15 kills.
Match 2: Saint Rose 3, Mercy 0
Saint Rose jumped out to a 16-12 lead in set one before Mercy came back on a 6-2 run to tie the score up at 18-18. The match was later tied at 23-23 after a DeBose kill before the Golden Knights scored two straight points to take the first set, 25-23.
The visitors took a 9-3 lead in set two and did not look back as they earned a 25-15 win in set two to take a 2-0 lead.
The Golden Knights took a 10-4 lead in set three and held on for a 25-18 win to secure the match in three sets.
DeBose had a team-high seven kills and Vulic had five kills and eight digs. Lopez-Soto had 13 digs and Garcia had 18 assists and nine digs.
Saint Rose was led by Stevie Schweitzer who had a match-high 11 kills.
Head Coach Georgia Efthalitsides and the Mavericks resume action tomorrow when they host Post and Franklin Pierce at 10 a.m.
