Greenville, S.C. – Annie Karle had a match-high 25 kills on Sunday afternoon to lead the Mercer Bears to a 3-1 victory over the Furman volleyball team in SoCon action from Alley Gymnasium.
Mercer won the match by scores of 16-25, 28-26, 25-22, 25-23.
Furman drops to 5-10 on the season and 5-10 in league play, while the Bears improve to 13-7 overall and 12-3 in the conference.
Courtney Hoffman led the Paladins offensively with 16 kills on .371 hitting.
Mikaela Schultz provided 10 kills and a .259 hitting percentage.
Katie Murphy (25) and
Ella Abraham (14) combined for 39 assists in the contest.
Andrea Aceveda had a match-high 18 digs while
Natalie Dunn collected 15. Murphy also tallied nine digs along with
Maya Mrus. Defensively,
Kelsey Watkins finished with a career-high six blocks (one solo, five assisted).
Karle had 25 kills on .300 hitting and nine digs to lead Mercer, while Jaida Howell hit .538 to go with 14 kills. Malia Randolph (23) and Agnieska Paskevic (21) combined for 44 assists. Megan Smith recorded a team-high 15 digs, while Brittany Major registered 13 and Lexi Uhrhan 10.
Furman opened the match scoring five of the first seven points of the first set and held a 5-2 lead off a kill by Watkins. The Bears came back to tie the score at 5-5 but the Paladins followed with an 11-4 run, capped by six consecutive points, to go in front 16-9 when Hoffman connected on a kill. Mercer rallied back to within four points twice after that with the last coming at 18-14. Furman closed out the set on a 7-2 run and won 25-16 on Hoffman's kill.
The second set featured 18 ties and nine lead changes, and would go into extra points. The teams traded the first 26 points before the Bears scored four of the next five to lead 17-14 following a combination block from Karle and Rayanne de Oliveira. The Paladins responded with four straight points to go back in front 18-17 off a kill from Schultz. The next 12 points saw the score even six times until Schultz put Furman at set point with her kill, leading 24-23. The set would go into extra points following a Paladin service error. The score sat tied twice more before Mercer scored the final two points off a kill and attack error for the 28-26 victory.
The Bears jumped out to an early 8-3 lead in the third set and took a five-point lead after a Furman ball handling error. The Paladins fought back to within one point, 12-11, off an 8-4 run capped by a Mercer service error. After the Bears went back ahead 17-12, Furman rallied back to tie the score at 18-18 after an attack error. Another Mercer attack error four points later kept the score even at 20-20. Leading 23-22 late in the set, the Bears got a kill from Major and solo block by Howell to capture the frame 25-22.
The Paladins started the fourth set on a 7-2 run, highlighted by three kills from Hoffman, to lead by five after a Mercer attack error. The Bears responded with an 8-3 run and tied the score at 10-10 following a bad set. The score would be tied a total of eight times after that with the last coming at 22-22 on a Mrus kill. Furman led by as many as two points during that stretch, 15-13, while Mercer held a three-point advantage at 18-15. The Bears picked up three of the last four points for the 25-23 win and 3-1 match victory. de Oliveira won the set, and match, for Mercer with her kill.
The Paladins concluded the match with a .239 hitting percentage and held a 10.0-9.0 advantage in total team blocks.
Furman wraps up its series with the Bears, as well as the regular season, on Monday evening at 6 p.m.
