SPORTS
PAGE 14
Wednesday, September 22, 2021
Volleyball opens newly renovated MAC By Samantha Weber Managing editor
The Mercyhurst Women’s volleyball team competed in the PSAC/Mountain East Crossover this past weekend. The Lakers played the West Virginia Wesleyan College Bobcats on Friday, Sept. 17, and the David & Elkins College Senators on Saturday, Sept. 18. The Lakers also had another game this past Saturday against the Shepherd University Rams. The Lakers were coming off of a 3-5 record in their previous tournaments of the year, Ram Fest and the Cavalier Invitational. They were also the first team to be able to utilize the newly renovated Mercyhurst Athletic Center (MAC). The MAC has been under renovation for only five months and the renovation cost about three million dollars. In their first match against the Bobcats, the Lakers were able to sweep their opponents in three sets. The Lakers dominated the first set as the final score was 25-15. Their hitting percentage was .520, which is well above what is considered to be a good hitting percentage in volleyball. The second set was similar to the first as the Lakers beat the Bobcats 25-18. The third set was a little different as the Bobcats held the lead at 17-15, but the Lakers
made a comeback and eventually won the third set with a final score of 25-22. The standout players in this game were Beth Brady, Hailey Wilson, and Madison Kasper who got 12, seven, and six kills respectively. On defense, sophomore Maggie Thomas and Kasper each recorded two blocks during the match and Brady had seven digs while senior libero, Hannah Vuylsteke, had six. At the end of the game, the Lakers’ hitting percentage was .333, which is still a great percentage. In their second match of the weekend, the Lakers fell 2-3 to the Senators. The first two sets were very close yet the Senators came out on top as the final scores were 25-20 and 25-23 respectively. The Lakers came back and had a pretty easy third set as they held the Senators to a low score of 2512. The Lakers also won a very close fourth set 25-23 pushing the game into a fifth set. The fifth set was also a close one, but the Senators were able to defeat the Lakers again with a score of 15-13. Brady, Kasper, and Wilson all had a great game with respect to kills as they had 22, 14 and 11, respectively. Thomas was an asset at the net as she had five blocks, which is her new career high. In their third and final match of the weekend, the Lakers fell to the Rams once again in five sets. The Rams won the opening set 25-
Hurst Athletics photo
The Mercyhurst Women’s volleyball team took on the West Virginia Wesleyan College Bobcats and the David & Elkins College Senators this weekend.
21, but the Lakers came back and won the second set 25-23. Mercyhurst lost the third set 25-9 but came back strong as they won the fourth set 27-25 pushing the game into a fifth set. The Lakers were down 14-8 at one point but had a four-point comeback to make it 14-12. However, the Rams were able to score one more point to make the final score 1512. Kasper and Brady had another
great game offensively with 15 and 10 kills each and redshirt senior, Chase Cole, had 10 kills as well. Isa McCaffrey and Vuylsteke each had 19 digs to help the Lakers offensively. Senior, Zoe Gadomski had eight aces in one match. Ryan Patton, head coach for the Lakers, talked about what the team did well in their games over the weekend. “From really all of our middle hitters, we saw what an effective
quick attack adds to our game. We’ll encourage them and our setters to find ways to make it a more consistent option. Our depth at middle hitter is an asset this team has,” said Patton. The Lakers will be back in the Mercyhurst Athletic Center this Friday, Sept. 24 at 7:05 p.m. for Homecoming Weekend.
Women’s soccer ties against rival Gannon Knights By Zach Dumais Opinion editor
The Mercyhurst Lakers traveled a short distance for their away game on Wednesday, Sept. 15 against hometown rival, the Gannon University Golden Knights. The match was an exciting one and in spectacular rivalry fashion, it ended in a 0-0 tie. Despite the tie, the Lakers played very well on defense. Sophomore goalkeeper, Maddie Elbro, made 10 saves throughout the match with 3 in the first half. Mercyhurst was unfortunately unable to generate much offense in the first half as they only had 1 off-target shot in the entire half. The Golden Knights, in comparison, were able to put up seven shots with three being on goal. The Lakers got out to a better start in the second half when freshman forward, Karah Van Horn, took a shot in the 69th minute. The shot was initially saved by the Golden Knight goalkeeper, but it bounced and Van Horn was able to corral it. She then had a second opportunity from inside the box but couldn’t quite get the bounce she wanted as it went off the crossbar.
Hurst Athletics photo
Sophomore goalkeeper, Maddie Elbro, makes a save during Wednesday’s game.
In the 80th minute, Van Horn put another shot on goal but this one was also unable to fall as it was saved by the Golden Knight goalkeeper. The second half was much more balanced compared to the first in terms of shot distribution. The Golden Knights had six shots with five being on goal. The Lakers had ten shots in the second half with
four being on goal. The regulation period ended in a 0-0 tie despite each team’s various opportunities. The first 10-minute overtime period ended with no change in the match. Sophomore forward, Emily Mijares, was able to get past a Golden Knight defender in the second 10-minute overtime period. She did have a great shot on goal, but
the Gannon goalkeeper was barely able to tip it in order to make the save. The Lakers corner kick that came after also almost went in and the opposing goalkeeper once again had to make the save. These events occurred in the 105th minute and neither team was able to break the tie in the remaining five minutes.
The end result was a 0-0 tie after 110 total minutes of play. “The rivalry between Mercyhurst and Gannon made it a hard battle, but I am proud of my team for how hard we fought. It was a great feeling coming out with a clean sheet because as a team we deserved it,” said Elbro. The rivalry match did get a bit chippy given how physical the match turned out to be. There were 33 fouls between both teams and the Golden Knights even received three yellow cards. There were four total corner kicks and the Lakers had three of them but they were unable to capitalize on the opportunities. Mercyhurst finished the night with 13 total shots and six of them were on goal. In their next game, the Lakers traveled to play Slippery Rock University on Sept. 18 and brought back a 1-0 win. The singular goal was scored by Mijares around the 18 minute mark. The next home game for the Lakers will be played Sept. 22 at the Mercyhurst Soccer Field. The women are set to play against the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown at 4 p.m.
