Murray Notches Career-High 18 Kills in 3-1 Loss to Lowell
LOWELL, MA – Despite a career-high 18 kills from
Megan Murray (Rancho Santa Margarita, CA), the
UMass Lowell River Hawks defeated the Merrimack volleyball team 3-1
Tuesday night at the Costello Center in conference action.
The loss drops the Warriors, picked to finish second in the
conference in the preseason poll, to 1-2 in the conference.
Game scores were 25-23, 25-22, 21-25, 25-20.
"Tonight's match brought out the things we need to work on as a
team," said head coach Joeu Pacis. "Lowell played an incredible
match at home with lots of intensity. We tried to match it, but we
gave them a lot of points off of unforced errors."
The first set was close the entire way with the largest lead being
just two points. The Warriors led 21-20 after a kill from freshman
Natalee Yeazle (Blaine, MN), but the Riverhawks
responded with the next three points to take a 23-21 lead and
closed it out 25-23. Merrimack struggled offensively, committing
eight attack errors and hitting just .050 overall.
Lowell led 24-18 in the second and was serving for match point,
but the Warriors rallied, cutting the deficit in half behind two
kills from Murray and another from Shaunda Forcier (Gonic,
NH), but it was not enough as Sarah Coscia closed out the
second set with a kill.
The Warriors came out strong in the third, taking an immediate 4-0
lead behind a kill from Forcier and another from Murray. The River
Hawks crept back cutting the lead to one at 18-17, but the Warriors
forced three straight errors, extending the lead back to four at
21-17 before Merrimack committed three errors of its own reducing
the lead back to one. But Murray was there, leading the visitors to
a third-set victory with three straight kills and the 25-21
victory.
But the fourth was all Lowell as the hosts picked up four straight
points to build a three-point lead 17-14, and they never trailed
again, winning the fifth 25-20.
Molly Cindric (Westlake Village, CA) notched her
fifth double-double of the year on 13 kills and 12 digs but hit
just .106. Forcier registered a career-high 10 kills and added six
digs while Elyse Lorenz (Frankfurt, IL) finished
with 45 assists and six digs. In addition to the 18 kills, Murray
posted a team-high three solo blocks and hit .441.
Coscia tallied a game-high 24 kills and hit .476 in the win, while
Elsa LeGrand and Jillian Hadder posted double-doubles. Lowell
blocked seven shots and served nine aces.
For the River Hawks (9-6, 4-1 NE-10), it was revenge after falling
to the Warriors 3-1 earlier this season at the Bridgeport
Tournament.
Merrimack (12-4, 1-2 NE-10) hosts Saint Rose Friday at 7 p.m. at
the Volpe Gym.
