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Volleyball Bests Mercyhurst On Opening Day of Daemen Invitational, Earns Split

Volleyball Bests Mercyhurst On Opening Day of Daemen Invitational, Earns Split

AMHERST, N.Y (9/4/22) – For the second straight Sunday of tournament play, the Franklin Pierce volleyball squad rebounded in their second match on the opening day of the Daemen Volleyball Invitational, upending Mercyhurst University in four sets by a score 3-1. The triumph comes after an afternoon opening 3-0 loss to host Daemen University, earning the split for the Ravens.

With the split, volleyball moves to 3-3 overall on the season.

Match #1: vs. Daemen University


Franklin Pierce kept things relatively close to open the first set, but eventually fell off the rails on a 15-5 scoring run by the Wildcats in an eventual 25-10 loss. Throughout the opening frame, Daemen paired a dominating offense with a stingy defensive game, holding Franklin Pierce to just eight kills on 37 total attempts, two of which belonged to sophomore Hannah Hillis (San Clemente, Calif.).

The second set delivered some life into the Ravens offensive game with their first lead of the afternoon early on, while matching the Wildcats through to a 12-12 stand-off. In that span, Pierce took advantage of seven total Daemen attack errors, as well as a pair of kills from senior middle hitter Ingrid Lindstrom (Dudley, Mass.). From that point, the Wildcats were able to re-ignite their relentless their own offense with another run, outscoring Franklin Pierce 13-2 en route to a 25-14 set triumph, and a 2-0 match lead.

Franklin Pierce entered the third set a completely different team, finding consistent offense from start to finish. In an effort to distance themselves from an early 2-2 tie, the Ravens gained a 7-4 edge early as a result of more attack errors by the Wildcats, which would also account for eight of the Ravens next 15 points. The Wildcats would claim the lead for good at 15-14, and hold no larger than a three-point advantage over the Ravens to the final play, eventually spoiling the Ravens comeback efforts with a close 25-22 set win and 3-0 match victory.

Ingrid Lindstrom finished the match as the point leader for Franklin Pierce, putting together five kills, along with two blocks and block assists each. Hannah Hillis led the offensive side with a half dozen kills.

Match #2: vs. Mercyhurst University

The scoring runs continued into the afternoon's closing match, with fortune favoring Franklin Pierce in the opening set. After some back-and-forth action in the early goings, the Ravens piled on a 12-3 scoring advantage over the Lakers, jumping to a comfortable 18-9 lead. To finish the set, senior Mariah Robles (West Covina, Calif.) set the tone with a service ace, and Ingrid Lindstrom (Dudley, Mass.) cleaned things up with two kills to secure a 25-13 set win.

The second set brought more of a challenge for the Ravens, with the Lakers coming from behind with six consecutive points at the midway point to establish a fragile 15-12 lead. The Ravens next three points would come as the result of attacking errors by Mercyhurst, helping them to eventually knot the set up at 21-all. Freshman Martina Spackova (Bratislava, Slovakia) then forced another Mercyhurst attack error, and followed it up with a kill on the next play to put the Ravens ahead for the eventual 25-22 win in the second.

Mercyhurst played the spoil game and was able to outlast Pierce in the third set,  staying alive with a 25-19 win. However, the fourth set brought another dominating effort from the Ravens, who used two separate 5-0 scoring runs to provide the insurance. Freshman setter Annaka Lindstrom (Dudley, Mass.) led the Ravens offensive efforts in the final frame, dishing out a total of seven assists for a match-leading 26 total, including a setup on the match winning kill from Morgan Schmutzler (Lockport, Ill.).

Volleyball returns to court on Monday, September 5th for the final day of the Daemen Invitational, where they will finish up with an early morning battle with Pennsylvania Western University- Clarion at 9:30 AM.