Volleyball Defeated by Southern New Hampshire 3-1
MANCHESTER, NH – Despite 24 kills from freshman Stephanie Sheehan (Smithtown, NY), the Merrimack volleyball team suffered a 3-1 loss to Southern New Hampshire in non-conference action Thursday night.
Game scores were 25-21, 21-25, 25-12, 27-25.
Sheehan and Brianna Trabucco (Canton, MA) both recorded their second double-double of the season in the loss to the Penmen.
Southern New Hampshire played a clean first set, hitting .317 while getting 16 kills to just three errors in a 25-21 victory.
Merrimack rebounded in the second, getting 17 kills while hitting .297.
But the Penmen took advantage of Merrimack hitting just -.043 in the third, as the hosts took a 9-1 lead and cruised from there to an easy win.
In the fourth, the Penmen came out flying, taking a 10-2 lead, but Merrimack tied it at thirteen. With the Warriors serving on set point with the 24-22 lead, a series of seven attack errors followed, four on Merrimack to give the hosts the 26-25 lead on serve going for match point. Danielle Coffey finished it off with her 17th kill of the night to send Merrimack to its third straight loss.
"We played enough to just play against our opponent tonight; we didn't do enough to win," said head coach TJ Hajjar. "The fourth set was the first time I saw real fight all year out of our team. We made the sacrifices, but we just didn't get it done."
Sheehan, the reigning Northeast-10 Freshman of the Week, finished with 24 kills, 14 digs, and hit an impressive .438, committing just three attack errors. Jackie Jones (Amherst, NH) was just shy of a double-double, getting nine kills and nine digs, while Allison Cote (Chelmsford, MA) had her best game with 17 digs. Trabucco finished with 33 assists and 13 digs.
Coffey finished with 17 kills and seven blocks in the win for the Penmen.
Merrimack (1-3) will take on Franklin Pierce Friday at UMass Lowell in a non-conference match at 5 p.m. before competing in a pair of matches Saturday at Lowell.
