Junior Erin Johnson led Stonehill with 15 kills and a .361 hitting percentage tonight. |
Merrimack Turns Back Stonehill Rally, 3-1
Warriors edge Skyhawks in fourth set as hosts threaten to rally for fifth set
EASTON, Mass. (October 27, 2009) - Merrimack College held off a late Stonehill College rally to post a 3-1 (25-13, 25-12, 22-25, 27-25) victory in non-conference volleyball action at Merkert Gymnasium tonight.
Merrimack cruised to a 2-0 lead, but Stonehill rallied to win set three and then held a 23-19 lead and had two set points in the fifth before the Warriors came back to end the match.
Junior Molly Cindric (Westlake Village, Calif./Oaks Christian) led Merrimack with a match-high 25 kills with five errors on 65 total attacks for a .305 hitting percentage to go with 19 digs, four service aces and two blocks. Junior Elyze Lorenz (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln-Way East) dished out 50 assists and added 15 digs, while classmate Alyssa Pickert (Tinley Park, Ill./Lincoln-Way East) finished with 24 digs.
Junior Megan Murray (Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif./Trabuco Hills) and freshman Shaunda Forcier (Gonic, N.H./Spaulding) each chipped in with 11 kills. Murray did so with only two errors on 26 total attacks for a .360 hitting percentage.
Sophomore Laura Huselton posted a match-high 29 digs. |
Junior Erin Johnson (Centerville, Mass./Barnstable) led Stonehill with 15 kills and just two errors on 36 attacks for a .361 hitting percentage. Junior Andrea Wirth (Mesa, Ariz./St. Mary's) collected 38 assists, while classmate Justine Thompson (Merrimack, N.H./Bishop Guertin) finished with 18 digs. Sophomore Laura Huselton (Penfield, N.Y./Penfield) chipped in with a match-high 29 digs and seven kills.
Merrimack hit a blistering .515 as a team in cruising to the win in set one as Cindric posted ten kills on 18 attacks with no errors for a .556 percentage in that set alone. The Warriors jumped out to an 8-1 lead and never looked back. Set two wasn't much better for Stonehill as Merrimack led 17-5 after an 11-1 run in the middle of the stanza. The Skyhawks hit a combined .071 as a team through the first two sets.
Stonehill came alive in the third which featured 12 ties and five lead changes. The Skyhawks were down 22-20 after a Murray kill, but rallied with the final five points of the set. Junior Anna Berthiaume (Somersworth, N.H./Somersworth) sparked the rally with back-to-back kills, while Johnson added one and the set ended on a Merrimack hitting error.
Merrimack turned the tables on Stonehill in set four to close out the match. The Skyhawks were two points from forcing a fifth set after a Warriors hitting error made it 23-19. Two Cindric kills, a service ace and Stonehill hitting error knotted the score at 23-23. Wirth and junior Laura Noonan (Hampstead, N.H./Bishop Guertin) combined for a block to give the Skyhawks their first set point and after a Cindric kill, earned their second set point on a solo block from Noonan. However, Merrimack scored the final three points of the set thanks to two Cindric kills and a Lorenz service ace to clinch the win.
Stonehill (14-8, 8-3 NE-10) returns to action on Thursday when it hosts Southern Connecticut State University for its final home match of the season and Senior Night at 7 p.m. Merrimack (19-9, 6-5 NE-10) visits Pace University on Friday at 7 p.m.
