Mercyhurst Outlasts Volleyball

Junior libero #5 Rosa Veliky (in white) and the team listen to Coach Allison Keeley during a timeout. Photo Credit / Ronald Hanaki Junior libero #5 Rosa Veliky (in white) and the team listen to Coach Allison Keeley during a timeout. Photo Credit / Ronald Hanaki
Junior libero #5 Rosa Veliky (in white) and the team listen to Coach Allison Keeley during a timeout. Photo Credit / Ronald Hanaki
Junior libero #5 Rosa Veliky (in white) and the team
listen to Coach Allison Keeley during a timeout.
Photo Credit / Ronald Hanaki

By Danny Daveggia
Contributing Writer

On Saturday, Oct. 29, the ESU Warriors hosted the Mercyhurst Women’s Volleyball Team at 1 p.m. in Koehler Fieldhouse. ESU came into the game with an 11-15 record while Mercyhurst came in with a winning record of 12-11.

Mercyhurst has only ever lost to ESU twice as they have a record of 10-2 against the Warriors. This would not be a day for underdogs, however, as the Warriors lost the close match 3 sets to 2 (25-23, 22-25, 25-23, 18-25 and 17-19).

“We fought back even when we were down,” stated libero Rosa Veliky, “We know we can push past anything. We didn’t just roll over and give up and going into the future, we hope to turn some of our negative plays into positive points.”

At the start of the first whistle, ESU got out to a quick lead and kept Mercyhurst on the back foot with a 4-0 run at the score. Mercyhurst quickly came back and the set was played back-and-forth.

Mercyhurst fought back from multiple ESU leads but their comeback fell short in the first set as the Warriors won it 25-23.

The second set followed the same theme as the first with a back-and-forth game and no team dominating over the other. This time, however, it was Mercyhurst who was able to hang on to a lead to win 25-22.

Mercyhurst started the third set with a commanding 7-1 lead, but that did not deter the Warriors from clawing their way back into the set.

As the set played on, the Warriors would not let Mercyhurst find their form again, and they managed to win the set 25-23.

The fourth set was the only set with a clear winner as Mercyhurst dominated from start to finish. The Warriors struggled to find their footing in this set as they fell 18-25.

Going into the last set, neither team was dominating thus far. Both sides had their chances to put the game to bed, but it was Mercyhurst who was able to finally capitalize and win the set 19-17, and ultimately the match 3 sets to 2.

The Warriors’ next two games are away at Edinboro on Nov. 4 and Slippery Rock on Nov. 5.

Their next and final home game is against Kutztown on Friday, Nov. 8 at 7 p.m. in Koehler Fieldhouse.

Email David at:
ddaveggia@live.esu.edu