Erie, Pa. – The Mercyhurst volleyball team nabbed their second win of this unconventional 2021 spring season with a hard-fought five-set victory over local foe Penn State Behrend on Friday night at the Mercyhurst Athletic Center.
The Lakers claimed the win with set scores of 25-20, 17-25, 25-21, 18-25 and 15-10 in the decisive fifth. The offensive attack was led by a dozen kills for
Beth Brady, followed by nine from
Madison Kasper and six put away by the hands of
Kylie Schnars. At the service line
Hannah Vuylsteke paced the side with four aces, while Brady added three. The duo of
Madalynn Ward and
Isabella McCaffrey combined for 28 helpers. Defensively, Vuylsteke was the leader of the ship with 17 digs, while Ward chipped in 11. Leading the block party for the Green and Blue was
Adeline Benjamin and Kasper who each recorded two blocks.
Thoughts from Coach Patton
"Behrend did a fantastic job. So much of the game is serve and receive and we could not separate from them in those areas. Once they realized they could start scoring points, they had some energy that they rode. Hats off to them."
"Maddie and Isa were thrust into the main lineup and did a fine job as setters. Maddie made some tough choices and Isa had some real nice deliveries in big moments."
"In the fifth game, we made some plays that we didn't make early. Some balls that should have been handled easier in the first four were finally taken care of. They shook us into playing with urgency and thank goodness we did at the end."
"I remember remarking on a hard spike each by Beth and Madison in the fifth game where they really got solid wood on the ball, and also one savvy shot each that were pretty key. The play of the fifth game that was 'hey we're really on' was a dig that Hannah made after first making a sneaky little adjustment that the casual fan wouldn't have noticed and then a quick reaction. We made plays when we really had to."
On Deck
The Lakers return to action on Wednesday night at 8pm when they visit crosstown rival Gannon University at the Hammermill Center.
