Mercer Opens Bears Beach Bash With Two Wins

MACON – The Mercer beach volleyball team used a quintet of first-time pairs to post a 4-1 victory in its Friday opener with Emmanuel, and then closed out the day with a 4-1 rout of Jacksonville on the way to registering a 2-1 clip on opening-day action of the Bears Beach Bash.

Mercer (12-5, 1-1 SBC) split its Friday success with a tough 3-2 setback to Sun Belt Conference foe UNC Wilmington (9-3, 5-0) who rolled into Macon carrying a No. 31 ranking in the latest TruVolley.com NCAA team rankings.

The Bears improved to 3-0 all-time in the series with Emmanuel (9-7) with their early-morning triumph, and have now registered five-straight wins in their 13-year-old series with the Dolphins (3-10), including a 3-2 victory earlier this season at the North Florida-hosted Duuuval Duals.

Jordan Paddock and Kathryn Corbett both turned in perfect unblemished days on the sand while competing amid a mixed bag of Bears. Paddock teamed up with newcomer Cyleigh Sayler to deliver a three-set comeback win in the morning matchup with the Lions, and then locked arms with Liv Diaz to produce victories at No. 3 Pairs in the matchups with UNC Wilmington and Jacksonville.

Corbett went into battle alongside freshman Kristi Talocka and grabbed a straight-sets win in the morning matchup, and then re-joined everyday tandem partner Nicole O'Mara to steamroll the No. 4 Pair from both the Seahawks and Dolphins.

The Bears will close out its portion of weekend action on Saturday with rematches against all three Friday opponents. Mercer will get the day going with an 8 a.m. contest against UNC Wilmington and follow with a 2 p.m. matchup with Jacksonville and a 6 p.m. Senior Day tilt against Emmanuel.

Admission to all 2025 Mercer beach volleyball home matches is free.

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Players Mentioned

Kathryn Corbett

Liv Diaz

Nicole O'Mara

Jordan Paddock

Cyleigh Sayler

Kristi Talocka

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