Volleyball Dropped In Straight Sets At AIC
SPRINGFIELD, MA – The Merrimack women's volleyball team was denied two straight victories on Thursday night as they were defeated in straight sets by the AIC Yellow Jackets. With the loss, Merrimack drops to 8-15 overall and 1-9 in NE-10 action.
"It was a disappointing loss coming off of our first conference victory in our last game," said head coach TJ Hajjar. "We will look to make adjustments tomorrow before we head to Mercy for our game on Saturday afternoon."
Game scores against American International: 20-25, 18-25, 21-25.
Merrimack was led offensively by junior Jackie Jones (Amherst, NH) who finished the game with a team-high seven kills, three digs and a team-high three kills in the loss. Corrine Gosselin (Lawrence, Mass.) continued her steady play finishing with six kills, two blocks and one dig while sophomore Stephanie Sheehan (Smithtown, NY) recorded a team-high 11 digs and four digs. Brianna Trabucco (Canton, Mass.) finished her night with 18 assists and four digs and freshman Hannah Pavlik (Monument, CO) finished her match with five digs in limited action.
The two teams were tied at five early on as they traded kills but a 5-1 run by AIC gave them the lead at 10-6 and they never gave that lead up. The Yellow Jackets finished off the Warriors by the score of 25-20 with three straight kills to end the set.
The Warriors started out the second set looking good as Jones gave Merrimack the early 7-4 lead after a great set from Trabucco. The Yellow Jackets however did not crack as they went on an 8-0 run to take the commanding 12-7 lead, and finished off the set with three straight kills to take the 2-0 advantage byt the score of 25-18.
With Merrimack trailing 13-11 midway through the third set, the Warriors went on a 7-0 run to get them back into the game as Gosselin finished the run with a big kill. The Yellow Jackets went on a 5-0 run of their own to respond and tie the match at 18. AIC finished the match on a 7-3 run putting Merrimack away in straight sets.
The Yellow Jackets were led offensively by Caitlin Connelly who finished of her night with a match-high 13 kills and eight digs. Kervelle Redhead was the lone player to record a double-double on the night as she racked up a match-high 37 assists to go along with 13 digs. Phoebe Lettington played well in the victory as she finished with nine kills and five digs.
Merrimack (8-15, 1-9 NE-10) will return to the court on Saturday as they will take on Mercy at 12 p.m.
