Mercer Opens SoCon Tournament with The Citadel

MACON, Ga. – Mercer will take plenty of motivation into this weekend's Southern Conference Tournament where it will battle ninth-seeded The Citadel in the quarterfinal round at 9:30 a.m. Friday. The match will air live on the SoCon Digital Network.

The eighth-seeded Bears (9-20, 3-13 SoCon) are hungry for a postseason victory; their last came in 1991 when they defeated Centenary College of Louisiana in the play-in round of the Atlantic Sun Tournament. Mercer is 0-3 in SoCon Tournament play since joining the league in 2014, having lost to UNCG, 3-2, Furman, 3-1, and Chattanooga, 3-1, in the quarterfinals all three years.

All-SoCon Second Team selection Paige Alsten will lead the Orange and Black against The Citadel (8-25, 2-14), a team that Mercer split with during regular season play.

The winner of Friday's quarterfinals will advance to another quarterfinals match to face the SoCon regular season champion Furman (20-9, 14-2) later in the day at 2:30 p.m. Winner will move on to the semifinals on Saturday, Nov. 18 to challenge the winner of match two: No. 4 Wofford vs. No. 5 Samford at 2 p.m. Friday.

FRIDAY'S MATCHUP
Date: Friday, Nov. 17 | 9:30 a.m.
Teams: No. 8 Mercer (9-20, 3-13 SoCon) vs. No. 9 The Citadel (8-25, 2-14 SoCon)
Location: Cullowhee, N.C.
TV: SoCon Digital Network
Live Stats: mercerbears.com/livestats
Twitter Updates: @MercerBearsVB

SERIES HISTORY | REGULAR-SEASON OUTLOOK
Mercer is 8-1 all-time series against The Citadel, despite falling to the Bulldogs 3-2 on the road (Oct. 20) this season. Emily Krogman led the Bears with a double-double (12 kills, 11 digs), Alsten recorded a team-high 19 kills, Morgan MacGilvary also contributed 12 kills, and Claire Waliczek added another double-double for the Bears (44 assists, 21 digs) in the loss.

The two teams first faced off Sept. 23 when the Bears took 3-1 home match win. MacGilvary and Krogman both led the team with respective double-doubles where MacGilvary produced 16 kills and 11 digs while Krogman added 11 kills and 12 digs and notched a team-high three service aces. Waliczek contributed 43 assists for the team which was more assists alone than all Bulldogs combined. Alsten contributed 12 kills and four total blocks.

NOTABLES

The 9:30 a.m. start time Saturday will mark the earliest match Mercer has played this season.
As a team, Mercer ranks fourth in the conference hitting percentage (.207) and in aces per set (1.29).
The All-SoCon Second Team member, Paige Alsten, ranks second in the SoCon in hitting percentage (.323) and fifth in kills per set (3.59). She's also one of five conference players with at least 100 blocks.
Waliczek is ranked fourth in assists per set (9.43), although Maddie Nunley has been seeing the floor recently and contributing 7.76 assists per set.
Krogman is top three for the SoCon in service aces, notching 38 for the season and averaging 0.35 per set.
Freshman Emilee Wissmach started all 29 matches for the Bears and ranks eighth in digs per set (3.31).

SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS
The Citadel enters the SoCon Tournament as the No. 9 seed and is 0-7 since last playing Mercer on Oct. 20. The team tops the SoCon in service aces, averaging 1.38 per set. The Bulldogs are among the top-five of conference teams in blocks per set (1.78). The Citadel outplayed the Bears in all categories (points, aces, blocks, assists) with the exception of kills and digs in their last competition.

Sharlissa De Jesus became the first freshman in Bulldog history to be honored on the SoCon All-Freshman team, ranking eighth in the conference averaging 3.51 kills per set, totaling 347 kills for the regular season. She notched 12 and 16 kills, respectively, in the two matches against Mercer. Sarah Dobrich is a SoCon top two blocker, notching 1.04 per set, totaling 129.0 for the regular season. Moriah Smith and Caricia Rodriquez split action for the Bulldogs recording 312 (Smith) and 304 (Rodriquez) digs for the team, with De Jesus trailing the two marking 302 digs for the season.

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.

Mercer Opens SoCon Tournament with The Citadel

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Players Mentioned

Paige Alsten

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