Bears Fall to ETSU in Four Sets

Saturday, November 23

Spartanburg, S.C.

4:30 p.m.

Mercer University

14-16,6-9SoCon

ETSU

25-5,14-2SoCon

Mercer

ETSU

11/23/2019 7:55:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

Mercer’s season ends in Southern Conference semifinals

By: Jesika Moore

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Mercer Bears volleyball team loss 1-3 (25-22, 21-25, 23-25, 21-25) against No.2 ETSU Saturday night at Wofford College, the host site of the 2019 Southern Conference Championships.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Set One (25-22) | The Bears opened the scoring in the first set behind a Roberta Todd kill. From there, it was a battle with the Bucs. The longest run by either team was 3-0- each team would have it once. The Bears run would come behind a kill from freshman Jaida Howell and two ETSU errors. Mercer would take the set with a block by Brittany Major and Alexia Morey.

Set Two (21-25) | The Bears would take five out of the first seven points behind Roberta Todd's kill and four ESTU errors. It would be a close set with the Bears receiving 15 of their points from Bucs errors. Jaida Howell would record two kills and one block in the set but an attack error would give the Bucs the second set.

Set Three (23-25) | Mercer would start out the third set scoring the first four points with kills by Brittany Major and Roberta Todd. The Bucs would answer with a 5-1 run to tie the set early. The Bears kept it close with kills from Brittany Major and Annie Karle. A Major kill and two Bucs errors would put the Bears within one, but the Bucs would take the set 25-23.

Set Four (21-25) | Mercer would jump out, taking 5-3 lead behind kills from Alexia Morey and Brittany Major. ETSU would answer by going on an 11-4 run with kills from four different Bucs. Mercer would go on their own run late in the set to come within one point. The Bears season would end on a kill from ETSU's Sara Esposito.

NOTABLES

Annie Karle finished the season with 323 kills in 115 set- 134 more than her freshman year- averaging 2.81 kills per set.
Brittany Major recorded six double-doubles on the season, her highest was against Furman (Nov. 16) where she recorded a season-high 19 kills and a career-high 21 digs.
Sophomore Nya Steele ended the season with 674 assists in 81 sets played- averaging 8.32 assists per set.
Megan Smith finished the season with a career-high 366 digs, averaging 3.49 digs per set.
Jaida Howell ended the season with a .302 hitting percentage, she lead the SoCon the majority of 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.