Greenville, S.C. – The Furman volleyball team closed out its regular season on Monday evening with a 3-1 (25-23, 18-25, 21-25, 22-25) loss to the Mercer Bears inside Alley Gymnasium.
Furman falls to 5-11 overall and 5-11 in the SoCon, while Mercer improves to 14-7 on the season and 13-3 in league play.
Courtney Hoffman led the Paladins with nine kills and five total blocks (two solo, three assisted), while
Maya Mrus and
Mikaela Schultz collected eight kills each. Mrus finished with a team-high 16 digs.
Katie Murphy dished out 24 assists to go with nine digs, and set a new career-high with four service aces.
Andrea Aceveda contributed 12 digs and
Natalie Dunn nine.
Jaida Howell had a game-high 12 kills for the Bears, while Taylor Lynch and Annie Karle tallied 10 apiece. Karle registered a double-double after finishing with 11 digs. Agnieska Paskevic (19) and Malia Randolph (16) combined for 35 assists. Megan Smith led all players with 21 digs and Rayanne de Oliveira had a game-high 10 blocks (four solo, six assisted).
Hoffman and Mrus combined for back-to-back combination blocks, while Murphy recorded three consecutive service aces, to give Furman an early 5-0 lead in the first set. Aceveda later provided another service ace to extend the Paladins lead to 8-2. After Mercer fought back to within 8-5, Furman answered by scoring six of the next nine points to lead 14-8 when Hoffman connected on a kill. The Bears used a 10-3 run to take their first lead of the set at 18-17 on Karle's kill. The proceeding 11 points featured five ties with the last coming at 23-23. A Mercer attack error and kill from Murphy gave the Paladins the 25-23 win.
The teams split the first 12 points of the second set before Furman collected three straight, including a kill by Dunn and solo block from
Kelsey Watkins, to take a 9-6 lead. The Bears followed with a 9-3 run and held a 15-12 advantage, capped by a combination block from Lynch and Howell, heading to the media timeout. The Paladins stayed within two points midway and trailed 18-16 after a solo block from
Sydney Tanner. Mercer closed out the set on a 7-2 run for the 25-18 victory.
The third set saw the score tied a total of 10 times with five coming within the first 20 points as Murphy's fourth service ace of the match evened the score at 10-10. The Bears took a 13-11 lead before Furman came back to hold a 15-14 advantage when Watkins and Dunn teamed up for a block. Mercer responded with a 9-4 run to go ahead 23-19 on a Paladin attack error. Following a timeout, Furman got a solo block from Hoffman and kill by Dunn to trail 23-21. The Bears scored the final two points to win 25-21.
The Paladins scored three of the first four points to start the fourth set and held a 9-4 lead early after a Mercer attack error. Mrus kept Furman in front by two points twice with the last coming at 12-10 after her kill. The Bears answered with a 6-2 run and went in front 16-14 when Lynch recorded a kill. The Paladins managed to tie the score three times midway at 14-14, 16-16 and 17-17. Schultz evened the score for Furman at 17-17 with her kill. Mercer then scored five of the next seven points to lead 22-19. The Paladins got as close as one point, 22-21, when Mrus picked up a solo block. Lynch gave the Bears the 25-22 set win, and 3-1 match victory, with her kill.
Furman concluded the match with 61 digs, 43 kills, 39 assists, nine total blocks and eight service aces. The eight service aces tied its season-high which was previously set on February 21 at Chattanooga.
