Volleyball's Come Back Bid Falls Short; Falls 3-2 To Saint Anselm In Final Home Game
NORTH ANDOVER, MA – The Merrimack women's volleyball team battled from two sets down to force a fifth set but they were unable to come through with the win in the final set, falling 3-2 to the Saint Anselm Hawks. With the loss, Merrimack falls to 10-18 overall and 2-11 in NE-10 action.
"We came out slow and fought back in the third and fourth set," said head coach TJ Hajjar. "In the final set we couldn't put them away when we had our chance."
Game scores against Saint Anselm: 21-25, 22-25, 25-16, 25-15, 13-15.
Merrimack was led offensively by Stephanie Sheehan (Smithtown, NY) who recorded her first career 20-20 game as she finished with 20 kills and 20 digs for the match. Senior Jenna Reilly (Northport, NY) finished her final game at Merrimack with 11 kills and nine blocks in the loss while fellow senior Brianna Trabucco (Canton, Mass.) tied a season-high with 50 assists and five digs. Shaunda Forcier (Gonic, NH) finished off her night with 12 kills and nine digs while freshman Madison Burke (San Jose, Calif.) racked up 26 digs in the loss.
After dropping the first two sets by a narrow margin of 25-21 and 25-22, Merrimack came out in the third set looking like a different team. With the two teams knotted at eight early on, the Warriors distanced themselves by going on a 6-0 run behind two straight kills by Sheehan. The Hawks were not able to come back from the six point deficit, falling 25-16.
With their backs against the wall in the fourth set, Merrimack used another 6-0 run to distance themselves from their opponent as this time, seniors Trabucco and Reilly led the way with back-to-back kills. Merrimack closed the set out on an 8-5 run to earn the 10 point victory in the fourth set, 25-15.
After a monster kill by Jackie Jones (Amherst, NH) in the final set, the Warriors looked poised to finish off the comeback, leading 10-7. The Hawks however did not oblige as they went on a 6-1 run to take over the final set, giving them the 13-11 advantage. After trading points, the Hawks got the match-winning kill from Lauren Oxley to put the Warriors away by the score of 15-13.
The Hawks were led offensively by Shannon Douglas who finished with 14 kills and six digs while Lauren Oxley racked up 11 kills and three digs. Margaret Tereschuk finished off her impressive match with a team-high 22 digs while setter Natalie Steinwart finished with 46 assists and five digs.
Merrimack (10-18, 2-11 NE-10) will return to the court on Friday night as they will travel to take on Le Moyne at 7 p.m.
