Women's Volleyball Celebrates Senior Day in 3-0 Loss to Saint Rose Saturday
Links: Box Score
NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – The Merrimack College women's volleyball team celebrated Senior Day on Saturday afternoon, honoring their three members of the Class of 2016, but the Warriors were unable to win the match that followed as the Navy and Gold lost to the College of Saint Rose, 3-0, in Northeast-10 Conference play.
The Basics
Score: Saint Rose3, Merrimack 0 (25-18, 25-22, 25-20)
Records: Merrimack (8-16, 3-10 NE-10) | Saint Rose (11-10, 7-5 NE-10)
Location: Hammel Court | North Andover, Mass.
How It Happened
Before the match, seniors Madison Burke (San Jose, Calif.), Katie Cronin (Methuen, Mass.) and Hannah Pavlik (Monument, Colo.) were honored in a pregame ceremony as part of Senior Day. The group won over 50 matchs in their careers, headlined to a trip to the NE-10 Final as sophomores.
Following the festivities, the match began with the squads exchanging points. After a 6-6 score, Saint Rose went on a 6-2 run to take a 12-8 and forced the Warriors into taking their first timeout. The Golden Knights build their lead up to 24-14, but the Warriors did not go away quietly, going on a 4-0 run with kills from Christina Nye (Plaistow, N.H.), Mary Kate McCarroll (Harrison, Ohio) and Jennifer Cain (Melrose, Mass.). On their fifth shot at a set point, the visitors took the point to win the opening frame.
Merrimack came out strong in the second frame. Junior Juliette McCall (Torrance, Calif.) recorded three kills over the Warriors' first seven points and a decisive strike from McCarroll forced Saint Rose to take a timeout with the score at 11-7. Saint Rose battled back, winning six of seven points to turn a four-point deficit into a one-point lead. With the set squared at 22, the Golden Knights won three straight to take the set.
The Warriors led early on in the final set, but Saint Rose won eight of 10 points to turn a 4-2 deficit into a 10-6 advantage. Trailing 18-12, Merrimack won three of the next four points including another kill from McCall to make it a four-point margin. The Golden Knights were within one point of victory at 24-17, but the Warriors staved off three match points to cut it to 24-20. Erica Ziskin stepped up on the Golden Knights' fourth chance, getting a kill to clinch the match, 25-20.
Inside The Numbers
- Burke, Cronin and Stuhr appeared in all three sets as the played their final match at Hammel Court. Pavlik finished the afternoon with eight digs, one of four players on the Warriors to have at least eight
- Sitting in second place all-time in program history in digs, Burke tied for the team high with 11 against the Golden Knights
- McCall finished with the team high in kills, totaling nine on 11 attacks. Nye joined Burke with 11 digs while contributing five kills and a .250 hitting percentage on the offensive end
- Stuhr registered 23 assists, the most of any player on Saturday. She also notched five digs and a pair of kills
Up Next
The Navy and Gold play in their season finale one week from today, out in Worcester against Assumption at 1 p.m.
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