Bears Beat the Bulldogs on the Road

Thursday, October 12

Birmingham, Ala.

8 PM

Mercer University

9-9,5-2SoCon

Samford

8-11,3-4SoCon

Mercer

Samford

10/12/2023 11:02:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM – In possibly the tightest match Mercer has played this season, the team defeated Samford in Birmingham in five sets.

In a game with 19 ties and eight lead changes, the Bears came out on the winning side, bringing their SoCon win streak to 3 and conference record to 5-2. Gia Padilla started the match with a service ace and went on to record a career-high five aces in the match. Mercer as a team recorded 13 service aces. Kiera McCarles tied her career high in assists with 50. The Bears also dominated on the defensive side, taking over the top five spots for blocks.

The Bears return to Macon to host Chattanooga on October 15 at 1 p.m.

MATCH SUMMARY
FINAL SCORE	Mercer 3, Samford 2 (23-25, 26-24, 19-25, 25-16, 15-13)
RECORDS	Mercer 9-9 (5-2 SoCon); Samford 8-11 (3-4 SoCon)
ARENA	Pete Hanna Center (Birmingham, Ala.)

MATCH REPLAY
SET 1 I 23-25	Mercer scored the first two points of the set, but Samford built a lead that maxed out at 12-19 before the Bears began to cut into it, eventually closing the gap to 23-24 before set point.
SET 2 I 26-24	Set two started out with a 4-0 Mercer lead, but the Bulldogs brought it back to a tie at 16-16. With the Bulldogs in the lead, a kill by Gia Padilla, kill by Ali Waldon, and service ace by Padilla took the Bears from down one to up one, 22-21. Samford tied the set again, followed by a Kylee Quigley kill and another Samford tie-up. Waldon killed again but then erred on the serve, bringing another tie to set point. Quigley was assisted on a kill by Kiera McCarles to put the score at 25-24. Another McCarles assist set up Skyler Bumpers for a kill to win set two 26-24.
SET 3 I 19-25	Set three began with another service ace by Padilla. After trailing fora bit, a kill by Gia Padill and service ace by Kiera McCarles brought the Bears back to the lead at 11-9. After a tie at 17-17, the Bears seemed to lose momentum and only came up with two more points as the set progressed, leaving Samford to take the win 25-19.
SET 4 I 25-16	Set four was a bit of a flip from set three, where Samford was the team struggling to put points on the board.The only tie in this set was at 2-2, and Mercer was in the lead at all other times.
SET 5 I 15-13	Set five was the traditional shorter set but no less exciting, as the largest point differential was three at 8-5 just before the media timeout. With the score tied at 13-13, another kill from Gia Padilla sent it to set point, and Skyler Bumpers finished it off with a solo block.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
KILLS	Gia Padilla (16), Kylee Quigley (14), Skyler Bumpers (14)
ASSISTS	Kiera McCarles (50), Abbey Havrilla (4), Kylee Quigley (3)
DIGS	Abbey Havrilla (16), Kylee Quigley (19), Aliyah Waldon (15)
BLOCKS	Aliyah Waldon (5), Skyler Bumpers (5), Lillian Beardsley (4), Kiera McCarles (3), Kylee Quigley (2)
SERVICE ACES	Gia Padilla (5), Kylee Quigley (2), Abbey Havrilla (2), Kiera McCarles (2), Aliyah Waldon (1), Carley Raleigh (1)

UP NEXT
The Bears return to Macon to host Chattanooga on October 15 at 1 p.m.

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