Volleyball Defeats Post 3-0; Falls to UMass Lowell
LOWELL, MA –The Merrimack volleyball team snapped its four-game losing streak with a 3-0 victory over Post before falling to UMass Lowell 3-0 at the River Hawk Classic.
Game scores against Post were 25-21, 25-22, 25-22.
Freshman Stephanie Sheehan (Smithtown, NY) had her third double-double of the year on 13 kills and 10 digs. She hit .529, had two aces, and eight blocks, including three solo blocks.
The defensive game was the story for Merrimack, as the Warriors totaled 20.5 team blocks, led by two solo blocks and nine assists from Jenna Reilly (Northport, NY). Allison Cote (Chelmsford, MA) had 17 digs while Brianna Trabucco (Canton, MA) added 30 assists from the setter position.
Merrimack forced 35 Post errors, 21 on attacks, while the Warriors hit .463 overall for the match, by far their most complete performance of the season.
"It was a great win for us," said head coach TJ Hajjar. "We stuck to our guns and played all the way through. It was good to see the team come together."
Against Lowell, game scores were 25-15, 25-22, 25-16.
Merrimack struggled offensively hitting .029 on 21 kills to 19 attack errors and committed nine receive errors.
Jenna Reilly (Northport, NY) led the way with six kills and three block assists, while Sheehan was limited to five kills but had four aces. Cote had a team-high 11 digs in the loss.
Lowell hit .333 overall, led by 12 kills from Lea Freeman and 28 assists from Kristina Wiltjer.
"We had a timid start against Lowell and never got our barrings," said Hajjar. "Our hitting percentage was very low. We didn't do enough to win or compete. We'll get back at it on Monday and get ready for our next match on Thursday."
Sheehan was named to the All-Tournament team for her efforts.
Merrimack (2-5) is idle until Thursday when it hosts Southern New Hampshire at 7 p.m. in the home and conference opener.
