J. Andrew Lockwood
Senior Editor / Columnist
As bad as the Mercer volleyball team played Friday night against Jacksonville, they looked that much better Saturday afternoon as they defeated North Florida in A-Sun play. Friday’s ‘Dig for a Cure Night’ saw a large turnout in the University Center witness a disappointing match in which the Bears fell to the Dolphins 3-0.
While Mercer showed promise in the first set, their offense had trouble getting started as they would finish with 7 kills and 7 errors in the first frame for a .000 hitting percentage. The second set was even uglier with Jacksonville pulling out to a 10-0 lead before the Bears scored. Putting together somewhat of a run, they made it a respectable 25-16 set before being defeated 25-21 in the final set of the night.
Statistically, Dolphin’s outside hitter Brittany Lehman went on a tear, striking 17 kills in 40 attempts with 6 digs. Teammate Aidan Year added 10 kills to the offensive effort as setter Hannah Munneke would finish with 39 assists. For Mercer, the numbers weren’t too pretty. Krista Hurley led the team with 8 kills and was one of only four to finish with a positive hitting percentage for the match.
A funny thing happened though between the Friday night match and Saturday afternoon game against UNF. The Bears seemed to find their swagger and regain their confidence that they had lost during the six match losing streak. That came to an end with a sweep of the visiting Lady Ospreys 28-26, 25-21, and 25-23 in the UC.
After the big win, Mercer head coach Noelle Rooke elaborated on the victory, commenting, “If we can bring the same mentality to the court every match we are going to be successful. It was a team effort, a team victory, and I’m proud of my ladies today.”
With their second A-Sun conference victory of the season, middle blocker Krista Hurley played well throughout the match, accumulating 13 kills with a .364 hitting percentage. Teammates Libby Hansch and Anna Coursey chipped in with 6 and 7 kills respectively as setters Chelsea Gebben (20 assists) and Nickie Halbert (17 assists) would split the offensive workload. UNF’s formidable net player of Paige Pridgeon (16 kills, 8 digs), Kaley Read (12 kills, 7 digs) and Danielle Lerch (10 kills) racked up for the Ospreys on offense, but their efforts came up just short in each set.
In the middle of the Atlantic Sun regular season, the Bears now face Florida Gulf Coast and Stetson this weekend in Florida before returning to play Kennesaw State, Belmont, Lipscomb, and Georgia State in a four game homestand that spans October 13-17th.
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