Mercy Takes Five-Set Conference Win From Volleyball, 3-2
BROOKVILLE, N.Y. (Oct. 4, 2011) – For a third straight game, the C.W. Post volleyball team forced five sets in a match but were unable to come away with the victory. The Pioneers dropped a conference match this evening to the Mercy Mavericks by a final score of 3-2 (23-25, 25-17, 26-28, 26-24, 13-25).
C.W. Post now sees its record drop to 1-3 inside ECC play, while the overall record slips to 7-10. Mercy, meanwhile, improves 6-11 overall and earns its first victory in the ECC with a 1-2 record now.
Sophomore Nicolette Gebhardt led the charge for the Mavericks in the first set with five kills and only committing one error. Ericka Cane, a freshman libero, also contributed three service aces to the set victory.
The Pioneers then knotted things up with a second set victory that led by five kills on the part of
Heather Adams (Centerville, Ohio). Adams hit .625 during the set and also added a service ace to even up things through two sets. Libero
Emily Hoehn (Kearney, Neb.) anchored the defense with seven digs in the frame.
A back and forth affair continued during the third set, as Mercy took a 2-1 advantage heading into the fourth set. However, it was not easy as the game used extra points to be determined as both team were all tied up at 25 and then once again at 26 during the third frame. The Mavericks then took the last two points of the match to earn the 28-26 victory behind a kill on the part of Kassy Philips and then a block shared by Phillips and Crasheena Ward.
After being down 16-22 during the fourth set, the Pioneers made a furious comeback to force a fifth and deciding set. The C.W. Post defense benefited from four attacking errors in the late stages of the fourth set to help seal the comeback. The final two points were claimed on #
Shayla Hixson# (Honolulu, Hawaii) and
Laura Garbarino's (Nutley, N.J.) combined block on both points.
Brenna White then capped things off in the fifth set with kill to secure the set and match victory for the Mavericks. The final kill was one of White's five during the set, while her team only allowed the Pioneers to put down six kills as a whole during the final set.
White took home the game-high with 22 kills while also putting up 20 digs to achieve a double-double. As a squad, the Mavericks grouped 87 digs and 57 kills for the night to help secure the victory.
For the Pioneers, Adams led the way with 12 kills to go along with 11 digs. Hixson also achieved a double-double with 10 kills and 16 digs.
Stephanie Schwarz (Hoffman Estates, Ill.) paced the offense with 40 assists on the night. The Pioneers defense almost stole the win by itself as the squad tallied 16.0 total blocks on the night, led by Adams' eight blocks assists.
Next for the Pioneers will be a conference road match. The match is set for this Friday, Oct. 7, as the team will travel to Bridgeport for a 6 p.m. start time.