Bears Earn Share of Regular Season Title with Win Over Paladins

Monday, March 29

Greenville, SC

6 p.m.

Mercer University

14-7, 13-3SoCon

Furman

5-11, 5-11SoCon

Mercer

Furman

Photo by: Mitch Robinson

Bears Earn Share of Regular Season Title with Win Over Paladins

3/29/2021 10:58:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

Mercer and Samford will share the title with a 13-3 conference record

By: Jesika Moore

GREENEVILLE, S.C. – Derek Schroeder and the Mercer Bears earned the title of SoCon Co-Conference Regular Season Champions with a 3-1 win over the Furman Paladins on Monday night.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Set One (23-25) | The Bears fell behind 5-0 early in the first set. Taylor Lynch scored Mercer's first point to make it 5-1. Mercer would go on a 4-2 run behind kills from Brittany Major and Jaida Howell. Furman grew their lead to 17-13, but the Bears went on a 6-1 run to take a one-point lead. Annie Karle had two kills during the run. Furman fought its way back to take the set, 25-23

Set Two (25-18) | Furman took an early 9-6 lead. Two errors from Furman and a kill from Rayanne de Oliveira tied the set at nine. A 7-4 run by the Bears gave the Black & Orange a three-point lead, 16-13. Howell and Karle each scored to give Mercer an 18-14 lead. de Oliveira contributed three straight points for the visitors with two blocks and a kill, while Major added a kills to give Mercer a comfortable 23-16 advantage. Major scored the last point for the Bears, giving Mercer a 25-18 victory in set two to tie the match at one set each.

Set Three (25-21) | Mercer jumped out to a 7-5 lead behind points from de Oliviera, Lynch and Howell. The Bears and Paladins traded points back-and- forth until the Paladins led by a point. Lynch started a three-point streak for Mercer, followed by blocks from Howell, Karle, and Malia Randolph. Mercer went on a 6-2 run to end the set and take a 2-1 lead with a 25-21 triumph in the third set . Karle and Major each had a kills while Lynch, de Oliveira and Major registered blocks.

Set Four (25-22) | Both squads got out to hot start with Furman taking a 12-10 lead. A service error from the Paladins started 6-2 run Mercer. Lynch recorded two kills, and Major and de Oliveira registered blocks. Furman tied the set at 17 , but that was the last time the two teams were even. The Bears took four of the next five to put them four points away from solidifying their share of the regular season title. Lynch scored two of the last three Mercer points with the last point coming from Karle. Mercer won its regular season finale, 3-1,  and earned the program's first regular season Southern Conference Championship.

DEX QUOTE
"Playing big matches is what we want for this program in the future, and we got to play one today. We came out with some nerves but fought through them and battled. It was a crazy defensive game for the team. Our blocking and defense was stellar."

NOTABLES

This is the first regular season title in program history for the Mercer volleyball team.
Three Bears had three players with double-digit kills. Howell led with 12, followed by Karle and Lynch with 10.
de Oliveira had a season best 10 total blocks. She recorded four solo blocks and six assisted blocks. She was the lone Bear to register an ace on the night, finishing with two.
Megan Smith led the Black and Orange with 21 digs on the night. Karle was the only other Bear to have more than 10 by one.
Agnieska Paskevic and Randolph dished out 35 total assists against the Paladins.

UP NEXT
Mercer will head to Birmingham, Ala. as the No. 2 seed in the 2021 Southern Conference Tournament. The Bears are set to face the No. 3 seed Western Carolina on Friday, April 2 at 6:30 p.m. (CT). The tournament is hosted by Samford, which won the tiebreaker and rights to host the 2021 Southern Conference Championships in the Pete Hana Center.

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.