AMHERST, N.Y. - The Mercyhurst volleyball team completed a perfect 3-0 stretch at the Daemen College Volleyball Invitational by going 2-0 on Saturday with a straight-set win over Ursuline College and a thrilling five-setter against the host Daemen at Lumsden Gymnasium.  

LAKERS 3, Ursuline 0 (Hurst wins by scores of 25-21, 25-16, and 25-20)

The Lakers jumped out to an early 8-4 lead on kills by Madison Kasper, Alyssa Zirnheld, and Leah Kern.  Ursuline stormed back to nab a 13-12 lead as Nora Clink and Regan Nickol put doww scores for the Arrows.  A Katie Baird kill sparked a 6-1 Mercyhurst charge to reclaim an 18-14 edge.  Ursuline cut the gap to one twice, but another kill for Baird ended the first 25-21.  

With the teams tied at 10-10 to begin the second, kills from Zirnheld, Kern, and Baird helped the Lakers to claim a 15-12 cushion.  An attack error by Nickol handed Mercyhurst the largest lead of the set 19-14.  A pair of kills off the hand of Tess Ganich wrapped up a 25-16 set win.

The two sides split the opening eight points of the third, before two kills by Zirnheld gave the Lakers a 7-4 edge.  Mercyhurst continued to hold a slim lead all the way out to 14-12, but a bad set and kill for Zoe Skinner knotted the score 14-14.  The Lakers used a Victoria Henderson service error to spark a 7-2 run capped off by an Addy Benjamin kill to capture a 21-16 advantage.  Four of the next five went to the Arrows to trim the margin to 22-20, but a kill for Zirnheld and ace by Hannah Vuylsteke ended the frame and match 25-20.  

Mercyhurst was paced by a dozen kills each for Madison Kasper and Alyssa Zirnheld.  Katie Baird added eight, while Tess Ganich totaled six.  Hannah Vuylsteke chipped in a 12 digs.  The setting combination of Mary Marusza and Claire Kenny racked up 27 assists, with Kenny dishing out a team-high 15.  

Victoria Henderson had a team best nine kills for the Arrows with teammates Nora Clink, Hannah Hottinger and Jill Morrow adding a combined 15 to the effort.  Regan Nickol handed out a match-high 28 helpers and Leah LaPinta picked up 13 digs.  

LAKERS 3, Daemen 2 (Hurst wins by scores of 20-25, 25-18, 23-25, 25-18, and 19-17)

In the first set neither team could really grab a foothold as they shared the first 20-points to be deadlocked at 10-10.  After a Georgia Wicker service error allowed Mercyhurst to knot things back up 14-14,  Daemen used a 4-1 run on a pair of kills by Allison Post to take a 18-15 edge.  The Lakers stayed close trimming the lead to two three times (18-16, 20-18, and 21-19).  However, the Wildcats closed things with a 4-1 stretch finished off with a kill by Tirzah Peters for the 25-20 win.

Mercyhurst used a pair of 4-0 runs on kills by Baird, Kenny, Ganich, and Vuylsteke to snag a 9-4 advantage.  Balls put down by Courtney Bernard and Post pulled the home side to 10-7, but a 5-1 response from the visitors thanks scores by Kasper and Leah Kern stretched the margin to 15-8.  An Addy Benjamin kill gave the Lakers an 18-10 cushion, before a 4-2 prowl by the Wildcats capped off by a Hurst miscue trimmed the gap to within 20-14.  An attack error from Sam Logan evened the match at a set apiece as Hurst won 25-18.

Daemen started the third off strong as a Post kill made it 13-7 home side.  Mercyhurst responded with five of the next eight points with Kenny and Baird scoring pulling to within 16-12.  The Wildcats answered back with a 4-2 push wrapped up by a Post kill for a 20-14 cushion.  A Jenn Heritz score brought the hosts to within a point of the set 24-19, but kills from Hailey Wilson, Zirnheld, and Ganich finished off a 4-0 run to get the Lakers to 24-23.  Unfortunately, an error by Wilson ended the frame 25-23

A kill and ace by Ganich took a one point guest lead 5-4 to a 7-4 edge.  Post put down a kill to spark a 3-0 run culminating in an Ali Greenwood ace to knot the score 7-7.  Baird recorded the only two scores during a 5-2 charge to open up a 12-9 lead.  The back and forth affair continued with Daemen responding with grabbing five of the ensuing seven points to once again draw level 14-14.   From there though the Lakers took control outscoring the host 11-4 down the stretch on kills from Benjamin, Zirnheld, Ganich, Vuylsteke, and Kern to force a decisive fifth set 25-18. 

Baird and Benjamin gave Mercyhurst a 5-2 lead to start the fifth combining for two blocks and one kill.   Four consecutive Wildcat points nudged them in front 6-5.  Then with the score locked 7-7, the hosts embarked on a 6-1 charge inculding three straight Post kills to grab a 13-8 advantage.  Mercyhurst did not go quietly as scores put away by Baird, Benjamin, and Kasper brought them all the way back to tie things 14-14.  The set would see three more ties at 15-15, 16-16, and 17-17.  Fortunately for the Lakers a Zirnheld kill and Wilson ace completed the comeback 19-17 to win the match.

Baird led the way with 14 kills, five digs, and two blocks, while Zirnheld also hit double-figures with ten kills.  Ganich added nine kills.  Kenny and Marusza had 44 assists between them with Kenny having 28.  Vuylsteke, Zirnheld, and Kenny all reched double-digits in digs.  

 Post, Logan, and Heritz each had ten-plus kills for the Wildcats.

Mercyhurst returns to action on Friday, September 13 when they travel to Institute, West Virginia to face West Virginia Wesleyan College at 1pm and West Virginia State University at 7pm in the West Virginia State University Invitational.