Mercer Downs Jacksonville, Falls Twice To No. 17 North Florida

Saturday, April 12

Jacksonville, Fla.

8:30 a.m.

Mercer University

#17 North Florida

Mercer Downs Jacksonville, Falls Twice To No. 17 North Florida

4/12/2025 7:07:00 PM | Beach Volleyball

By: Todd Anderson, anderson_t02@mercer.edu

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Mercer beach volleyball team gutted out a 3-2 victory over Jacksonville for the second time in 24 hours, but dropped both matchups to 17^th-ranked North Florida on final-day action at the North Florida Invite on Saturday at the Cooper Beach Volleyball Complex.

The northeast Florida tripleheader closed out the road portion of the regular season schedule for Mercer (21-11) who improved to 22-13 (5-1 this season) against the Dolphins (11-16) with Sunday's result. The nationally-ranked Ospreys (21-6) tacked up their 18^th- and 19^th-straight wins in the 13-year-old series with the Bears.

MU's Nos. 2 and 5 Pairs both tacked up a pair of victories amid Saturday's competition. Hollis Engel and Lexi Polychrones delivered a straight-sets (21-19, 21-15) victory in the setback to North Florida, and rallied for a 15-8 victory in the third set to top Jacksonville's Katie Martinez and Meredith Mrukowski.

Reese Hood and Grace Rathburn were equally as impressive on Court No. 5, rallying back from an opening-set loss in the morning matchup with North Florida with 21-14 and 15-9 decisions, respectively, and then recording a straight-sets (21-18, 21-12) triumph in the win over Jacksonville.

The Bears will snap the lid on an already-impressive 2025 regular season on Wednesday when they suit up to host Wesleyan (1-3-1) in a 10 a.m. doubleheader at Bear Beach. Admission is free.