Volleyball Defeats C.W. Post; Falls to Dowling Saturday
OAKDALE, NY - The Merrimack volleyball team split a pair of
non-conference matches Saturday, defeating C.W. Post 3-0, before
losing to Dowling College, the top-ranked team in the region, 3-0.
Game scores against C.W. Post were 25-22, 25-23, 25-17.
Trailing 22-20 in the first set, Merrimack rattled off five
straight points to take the first set from the Pioneers 25-22, as
Molly Cindric (Westlake Village, CA) had two kills
in the rally, including the set-clinching kill, her third of the
match.
The second set was nearly identical to the first as C.W. Post
led 22-21. Merrimack netted four of the final five points,
featuring a Jenna Reilly (Northport, NY) kill and
an ace from Elyse Lorenz (Frankfurt, IL).
The Warriors dominated the third set, taking early leads of 9-1
and 17-4 before closing out the match 25-17 and snapping their
three-match losing streak.
Merrimack took advantage of 19 Pioneer attack errors as C.W.
Post hit just .065 overall in the match.
Cindric finished with eight kills, six digs, and three blocks,
while Megan Murray (Rancho Santa Margarita, CA)
tallied eight kills and four blocks. Reilly (six kills) and
Natalee Yeazle (Blaine, MN) (five kills) also were
strong offensively, while Lorenz posted 26 assists and seven digs.
Alyssa Pickert (Tinley Park, IL) had a team-best
13 digs in the win.
"We played with a lot more energy and tried to outwork C.W. Post
for every point," said head coach Joey Pacis. "I think that's what
pushed us over at the end of the first two sets, and we rolled that
monetum into the final set with Brianna Trabucco serving really
well. That was a great win, especially to avenge the loss from
earlier this season."
Game scores against Dowling were 25-14, 25-15, 25-23.
Cindric had a team-high 12 kills and seven digs in the loss,
while Lorenz totaled 12 assists, four digs and a service ace.
Murray had five kills, as the Warriors committed 19 attack errors,
hitting .087 overall.
"It was good to see our youngsters compete against a really,
really good team. At one point, we had four freshmen on the floor.
We hung with them in the third set and that will help our
confidence. Hopefully, we can carry this energy and work ethic
through the end of the conference season."
Three Golden Lions had double-digit attack numbers, led by
Monika Kasperek who had 11 kills. Maja Potpara had a double-double
on 18 assists and 10 kills.
Merrimack (18-9, 6-5 NE-10) visits Stonehill Tuesday at 7 p.m.
for a non-conference match, before visiting Pace and Adelphi next
weekend for conference matches, desperately needing victories to
remain in the playoff picture.
