Bears Fall to Catamounts in First of Two Home Matches This Week

Thursday, October 26

Macon, Ga.

6 p.m.

Mercer University

12-10,8-3SoCon

Western Carolina

7-15,4-7SoCon

Western Caro.

Mercer

Bears Fall to Catamounts in First of Two Home Matches This Week

10/26/2023 8:47:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

MACON – The Bears' winning streak comes to an end as the Catamounts came to Macon holding nothing back, taking Mercer to five sets on their home court.

Mercer had to start every set from behind, as Western Carolina scored first and built a lead early in every set. The match contained 25 ties and lots of energy from both sides and the fans. After trading wins through four sets, Western prevailed in set five, allowing Mercer to tie but never take a lead. Mykole Morgan was back for the bears after missing several matches and made some key plays, including two blocks in the first set (four total) and recording 11 kills. Aria Eisel made her first start for the Bears at libero and recorded the most digs of the match (20).

The Bears will host The Citadel at Hawkins Arena in Macon on October 27 at 6 p.m.

MATCH SUMMARY
FINAL SCORE	Mercer 2, WCU 3 (25-23, 24-26, 25-22, 18-25, 12-15)
RECORDS	Mercer 12-10 (8-3 SoCon); WCU 7-15 (4-7 SoCon)
ARENA	Hawkins Arena (Macon, Ga.)

MATCH REPLAY
SET 1 I 25-23	After a tight start and the Bears down by one, they went on a 4-0 run to take a 10-7 lead. They built the lead to 14-9 after a Catamounts timeout, but the Cats brought the match back to a tie at 15 all. After a Mercer timeout with the match tied at 23, Skyler Bumpers put down a big block to send it to set point with Ali Waldon recording a kill to give the Bears the win in set one.
SET 2 I 24-26	Similarly to set one, Western Carolina came out firing in set two, taking a 5-1 lead right off the bat. Back-to-back kills by Ali Waldon and MyKole Morgan got the Bears' energy rolling, though the team continued to trail, bringing Mercer to call a timeout at 7-13. They reached a deficit of eight at 9-17 and slowly but surely cut away to force Western to take a timeout at 17-19. In a fight to the finish of the set, the Bears tied the match at 23 and took the lead 24-25 quickly, but the Catamounts came back to take the win.
SET 3 I 25-22	Set three started out with a 7-1 Western run, forcing Mercer to take an early timeout. The Bears climbed back to tie it at 11 and take their first lead of the set at 12-11 on a kill by Kylee Quigley. Mercer flipped the script, forcing Western into a timeout at 20-15. After reaching a lead of six at 18-24, Western forced Mercer to three tries at set point before calling a timeout.
SET 4 I 18-25	Western scored first for the fourth set in a row, reaching a 3-0 lead before Sklyer Bumpers got Mercer on the board with a kill. Mercer tied the set at eight but slipped again to 10-15. A service ace by Ali Waldon brought the score to 14-18 before another Catamount point and Mercer timeout. The Bears could not rally enough to close the gap.
SET 5 I 12-15	Falling behind early in a short set, the Bears fought back to a 7-6 lead on an ace by Kylee Quigley. Back-to-back kills by Quigley and Mykole Morgan brought the Bears to tie the set at 11, but Western fired back with two points of their own. After a Mercer timeout, Western scored two more to win the match.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
KILLS	Kylee Quigley (20), Aliyah Waldon (12), Mykole Morgan (11), Skyler Bumpers (10)
ASSISTS	Kiera McCarles (51)
DIGS	Aria Eisel (20), Gia Padilla (18), Kylee Quigley (11), Kiera McCarles (10), Aliyah Waldon (8)
BLOCKS	Aliyah Waldon (6), Skyler Bumpers (6), Mykole Morgan (4)
SERVICE ACES	Gia Padilla (3), Kylee Quigley (1), Aliyah Waldon (1), Aria Eisel (1), Carley Raleigh (1)

UP NEXT
The Bears will host The Citadel at Hawkins Arena in Macon on October 27 at 6 p.m.

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