WORCESTER, Mass. – Powered by a match-high 14 kills from junior Stasa Stamenkovic (Bor, Serbia/Barton CC) and a match-high 33 assists from senior Adriana Rivera Rodriguez (Humacao, Puerto Rico/American International College), the Mercy University Women's Volleyball Team earned a 3-0 (25-22, 25-11, 25-13) win at Assumption University on Wednesday night at Laska Gymnasium.
The Mavericks (20-1) have won 12 matches in a row and now have back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time since 2000-01. Mercy defeats the Greyhounds (6-16) for the third straight time.
Mercy scored the first two points of set one before Assumption cut the Mavericks' lead to one, 5-4. Mercy answered with a 7-3 spurt to take a 12-7 lead after a Rivera Rodriguez ace. The Greyhounds battled back and later cut the Mavericks' lead to two, 16-14. Mercy scored five of the next six points to take a 21-15 lead after a Rivera Rodriguez kill. Assumption went on a 7-2 run to make it 23-22 before back-to-back kills from Stamenkovic gave Mercy the 25-22 set-one win.
The Mavericks opened the second set with a 7-1 lead and later built a 17-6 lead after a Stamenkovic and senior Mia Illes-Hair (Lake Worth, Fla./Palm Beach Central) block. An Illes-Hair kill later gave Mercy a 25-11 set-two win.
Mercy took a 7-1 lead in set three after a junior Grace Dilena (New York, N.Y./Liberty University Online Academy) ace. Assumption later cut the Mavericks' lead to three, 9-6, before Mercy went on a 10-3 run to take a 19-9 lead after a Dilena kill. Back-to-back kills from Stamenkovic and Rivera Rodriguez gave the Mavericks the 25-13 set-three win and the sweep.
Mercy was led by Stamenkovic who had a match-high 14 kills on .591 hitting to go with six digs and two aces. Rivera Rodriguez added a match-high 33 assists to go with four kills, four digs and two aces and Dilena had 12 kills on .526 hitting with five digs. Sophomore Isabella Brown (New York, N.Y./Great Neck North) contributed a match-high nine digs and Illes-Hair had five kills on .571 hitting to go with a match-high four blocks (1 solo, 3 assists). Junior Aleksandra Lucic (Belgrade, Serbia/Florida SouthWestern State College/AIC) had four kills, six digs, and two aces. Senior Janneliz Rodriguez Fuentes (Juana Diaz, Puerto Rico/Academia Cristo Rey) added four kills.
Assumption was led by Cate Wettstone who had a team-high seven kills.
Mercy hit .468 with a43 kills, 33 digs, eight aces and five blocks. Assumption hit .141 with 26 kills, 24 digs, three aces and five blocks.
Head Coach Ana Todorovic and the Mavericks resume action on Friday, October 30th when they host Molloy in their Breast Cancer Awareness Game at 6 p.m.
