Volleyball Oh So Close!

J. Andrew Lockwood
Senior Editor / Columnist

It couldn’t be any closer this weekend between Atlantic Sun foes Campbell and ETSU as they visited the University Center to take on the Bears. Friday night’s matchup with the Camels brought close to 1,000 fans out to see the Bears lose in the ultimate case of déjà vu. Despite having the ability to put away Campbell twice with set points, Mercer would falter three times 26-24, 26-24, and 26-24. Putting the tough loss behind them, the Bears looked sluggish at best on offense as ETSU would sweep Mercer in three sets as well (25-22, 27-25, 25-18). The two losses drop the Bears to 1-3 in conference play with an overall record of 3-8.

Friday night’s raucous crowd brought the UC to life as Mercer looked strong early in the first set. An eight point lead wasn’t enough to hold off Campbell as outside hitter Caroline Hammersley would throw down a spike to give the visitors a 1-0 advantage. For the remainder of the match, Campbell and Mercer would trade points until the 24-24 mark of each set. Each time, the Camels would find a way to string together consecutive kills to steal away the set.

“It is frustrating when we’re in every set and can’t capitalize,” said Mercer head coach Noelle Rooke on MercerBears.com. “We had great support from our home crowd tonight and unfortunately we didn’t produce a win for them,” she added.

Although the loss to Campbell was a blow to the team’s confidence, there were bright spots on the court. Krista Hurley finished the night with 14 kills, hitting .321 for the game while setter Chelsea Gebben tallied up 28 assists. Friday night’s match was also the first time the Mercer faithful got a real glimpse of the talented freshman Jamie Duffy. Substituted onto the floor in crucial situations, Duffy posted six kills and eight digs in her first real home debut.

Making the big difference on the floor for Campbell was a pair of outside hitters. Ashley Weers and Emily Werner would finish with 11 kills each while setter Hope Leatigaga handed out 33 assists.

Looking to put the Campbell match behind them, the Bears looked rather flat on offense Saturday against the Lady Bucs of ETSU. Hoping to avenge last season’s first round loss in the Atlantic Sun Tournament, Mercer fought out of an early hole in the first set to trade points with the Bucs. Tied at 22-22, ETSU would pick up the three crucial points at the end of the first stanza to jump out to a 1-0 lead.
The second set looked like a continuation of the performance against Campbell. Deadlocked 25-25, an Alyssa Long kill and Mercer attacking error would doom the Bears to their eight straight set loss. A decent sized Saturday crowd in the arena hoped the intermission would spark the Bears in the third set, but unfortunately saw Mercer falter once more 25-18. Sophomore Aimee Frutchey was the star of the night on offense, tallying 10 kills and 15 digs while teammate Krista Hurley added 7 more kills to her season’s total.

A trio of ETSU players would finish with 10 or more kills on the afternoon. Whitney Cogburn (12 kills, 6 digs), McKayla Barber (10 kills, 5 block assists), and Erin Ryan (13 kills) would lead the Lady Bucs on offense as setter Amanda Youell finished with 41 assists, 3 kills, and 7 digs of her own.

Dropping to the bottom half of the Atlantic Sun wasn’t what Coach Rooke had in mind for this weekend, but now her young team must rebound before playing A-Sun rivals Lipscomb and Belmont on the road. The Bears return to Macon to take on Jacksonville, North Florida, and Florida A&M in their next home stand.