Erie, Pa. – The Mercyhurst volleyball team continued their unusual 2021 spring season on Wednesday night with a pair of matches against fellow Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference foe Clarion University at the Mercyhurst Athletic Center. Unfortunately for the Lakers suffered setbacks in both contests falling 3-1 in match one, before dropping the second in straight sets 3-0.
Match 1
In the first match Clarion claimed the victory 3-1 with set scores of 16-25, 18-25, 25-23 and 22-25. On the attack the Lakers were paced by 10 kills from
Beth Brady along with seven by
Madison Kasper.
Claire Kenny was busy in the match as well dishing out 27 assists.
Hannah Vuylsteke racked up 18 digs, while
Zoe Gadomski chipped in 11 along with a pair of service aces. At the net freshman
Maggie Thomas and Kasper each notched four blocks.
Match 2
The second contest of the evening also belonged to the Golden Eagles by a 3-0 score. They won by scores of 20-25, 19-25 and 17-25. A pair of freshmen keyed the attack for the Green and Blue with Thomas leading the way with five, followed by
Corinne Bechtold at four. Vuylsteke added onto her strong evening on the service line by putting away two more aces as well as recording 11 digs.
Julia Vanill also contributed eight digs to the cause. The combination of
Adeline Benjamin and
Kylie Schnars went for four blocks.
Thoughts from Coach Patton
"We are doing some different things with our offense and Clarion came well prepared for them. We did not handle their serves as well as we would have liked, but once we settled in the adjustments, we made were fine."
"Our team will be too good for consolation prizes, but I suppose the consolation prize is that you see the last two games and realize the difference between us and an NCAA Tournament team is mere margins not major gaps."
"We went with a less experienced lineup in the second match and while winning is the ultimate standard, the coaches are not displeased with the effort and performance. The performance this time out versus the last time we put this same group on the floor is showing them the value of each match we can squeeze into this unique spring."
On Deck
The Lakers get back on the floor in two days when they host Penn State Behrend at 7:30pm inside the Mercyhurst Athletic Center.
