Volleyball Falls 3-1 to USF in Charlotte

Saturday, August 27

Charlotte, N.C.

12 PM

Mercer University

1-2

South Florida

2-0

USF

Mercer

Photo by: David Scearce

8/27/2016 3:16:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

Mercer finishes the weekend with a 1-2 record

By: Gerrit Van Genderen

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – A strong opening set performance wasn't enough for the Mercer University volleyball team, which faltered late in a 3-1 (26-24, 14-25, 12-25, 23-25) loss to South Florida on Saturday afternoon at the Charlotte Invite.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Things looked good early for the Bears as they tallied off eight of the final 11 points in the first set to win it 26-24. Coming out of a timeout trailing 21-18, Mercer clawed back behind a pair of service aces from junior outside hitter Emily Krogman and additional kills by sophomore middle blocker Paige Alsten and sophomore outside hitter Heather Swann. Mercer also took advantage of a pair of costly errors by USF, including an attack error on the set-clinching point.

However, the Bulls quickly rebounded and took the second and third sets handily – 25-14 and 25-12 – to take a 2-1 lead over the Bears. Mercer's offensive struggled in the middle of the match, recording only 17 kills to USF's 29, led by T'ara Austin's 11 over the two-set stretch.

Mercer turned it around in the fourth set, battling point-for-point with the Bulls all the way before dropping the final two to seal the match. The Bears were down 21-17 before rallying five straight points to take a 22-21 lead at one point. Senior outside hitter Ellie James recorded four kills and six digs in the set, while Krogman added another three service aces.

PLAYER OF THE MATCH
Alsten submitted another stout performance in the middle for Mercer. The sophomore led the Bears with three blocks and finished with nine kills, tied for the second most on the team. Three of the kills and one block came in Mercer's first-set win. Alsten now has 12 blocks on the year, ranking among the SoCon's leaders.

NOTABLES

South Florida's win in the inaugural matchup between these two programs gives the Bulls a 1-0 all-time series lead over Mercer.
With 22 digs in Saturday's loss, senior libero Tori Penrod has 64 through three matches this season. She ranks among the Southern Conference's leaders in total digs and digs per set (5.33).
Junior setter Claire Waliczek recorded her first double-double of the early season, posting 15 assists and a season-high 12 digs.
Mercer recorded a season-high eight service aces, highlighted by Krogman's five.
Following her 19-dig outing on Saturday, James has double-digit digs in two straight matches. The senior added seven kills.
Junior outside hitter Morgan MacGilvary paced the Bears with 10 kills. She's been the team's kills leader in two of the three matches this year and ranks first among Mercer players with 31 for the season.
Sophomore outside hitter Danielle Faust got her first major action of the season, appearing in two sets and tying a career-high with three kills on five attacks. She added a pair of digs.
In her first appearance of the season, sophomore middle blocker Maria Avramova recorded two blocks.
Mercer's offensive woes in the second and third sets were tough to overcome, as the team had a collective 17 kills on 83 total attacks to go along with 17 attack errors.

COACH ELDER'S TAKE
"We were playing really well early on with a high hitting percentage and strong passing, but dipped after an injury and took a couple sets to recover," said head coach Damian Elder. "The first and final sets are a good indicator of how hard and fast we can play. I think we got what we needed out of this tournament, but would've really liked for us to win today's match."

RECORDS UPDATE
Mercer concluded its weekend at the Charlotte Invite with a 1-2 overall record. The Bulls improved to 2-0 overall and will face host Charlotte for the invite championship match Saturday night.

UP NEXT
Mercer continues its season-opening road stretch with a trip to Nashville for the Bruiser Showcase, hosted by Belmont. The Bears will take on the Bruins and intrastate foe Georgia State on Friday, Sept. 2 at 1:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. (ET), respectively. They'll face William & Mary at noon on Saturday, Sept. 3 to conclude the trip.

FOLLOW THE BEARS
For complete coverage of Mercer Volleyball, please follow the Bears on social media at @MercerBearsVB (Twitter), and @mercervolleyball (Instagram) or visit the official home of Mercer Athletics at MercerBears.com.