Volleyball Heads to Playoffs Following 3-0 Win over Assumption
NORTH ANDOVER, MA – The Merrimack volleyball team wrapped up its regular season, clinching the eighth and final spot in the Northeast-10 Tournament with its seventh straight victory, a 3-0 triumph over Assumption College in the regular season finale Saturday at the Volpe Gym.
Game scores were 25-14, 25-11, 25-19.
After starting the year 4-12, the Warriors conclude the regular season with a 12-13 record, 9-6 in the conference. They will travel to two-time Northeast-10 Champion New Haven on Tuesday at 7 p.m. for the Northeast-10 Quarterfinals.
"We are very proud of how the team finished the season," said head coach Joey Pacis. "The last nine matches our squad is executing our game plan and playing with high energy. We are looking forward to the postseason."
The hosts scored 11 straight points in the first with Molly Cindric (Westlake Village, CA) serving to take an 18-6 lead before closing it out with the 25-14 win behind an ace from Heidi Wroblicky (Irvine, CA). They hit .296 in the first and forced six Greyhound attack errors.
They also rattled off 11 straight points in the second with Elyse Lorenz (Frankfurt, IL) serving, converting on 14 kills to just one attack error for a .382 hitting percentage.
Lorenz tailed four aces in the third, including three straight, getting the Warriors off to a quick lead as they ended the match with a 25-19 third set victory. The senior finished two aces and one dig shy of her first career triple-double.
Merrimack totaled 16 aces in the win, led by eight from Lorenz and three from Cindric.
Cindric, the three-time reigning NE-10 Player of the Week and last week's Division II Sports Insider National Player of the Week, finished with seven kills and 12 digs, eclipsing 1550 career kills and 1250 career digs for her storied career.
Also playing in their final home match of their historic careers, Lorenz surpassed 800 assists for the season and 4150 for her career with 34 in the victory, while Alyssa Pickert (Tinley Park, IL) tallied 15 digs, as she went over 2100 for her career.
Megan Murray (Rancho Santa Margarita, CA) added nine kills with Jenna Reilly (Northport, NY) getting nine of her own while hitting .500 overall.
Merrimack's seven game winning streak is its longest since it won all nine October matches in 2008.
New Haven enters the postseason as the top team in the region with a 23-2 record, 15-0 in the Northeast-10. But perhaps the most challenging conference match for the Chargers was a close 3-2 victory over the Warriors on Homecoming Weekend in North Andover. It was New Haven's only five-set match all season, and they pulled out the fifth set with two late points for the 15-13 victory.
