Mercer Volleyball Drops Game One of Mercer Invitational to Montana State

Thursday, September 17

Macon, Ga.

6 p.m.

Mercer University

5-5,0-0SoCon

Montana State

6-3,0-0Big Sky

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
Montana St.	25	28	25	20	15	3
Mercer	23	30	7	25	10	2

Tournament Schedule

Team Celebration, vs. Montana State Recap

Mercer Volleyball Drops Game One of Mercer Invitational to Montana State

9/17/2026 9:30:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

By: Ben Kinealy, Kinealy_ben@mercer.edu

MACON, Ga. – Mercer Volleyball fell just short in their first match against the Montana State Bobcats, dropping the match in five sets in Hawkins Arena.

The Bears kept it close for a majority of the match, but they couldn't get out of their own way, as they had 25 attack errors and 17 service errors, which ended up hurting them in the end. The Bears will be back on Friday, Sept 18, at 6 p.m. to take on the Georgia State Wolves.

MATCH SUMMARY
FINAL SCORE	Mercer 2, Montana State 3 (23-25, 30-28, 7-25, 25-20, 10-15)
RECORDS	Mercer 5-5, 0-0 SoCon; Montana State 6-4, 0-0 Big Sky
ARENA	Hawkins Arena (Macon, Ga.)

MATCH REPLAY
SET 1 I 23-25	The Bears came out firing with an early five-point run to take a 6-2 lead on the Bobcats, but they later responded with a five-point rally of their own to go up 9-7. The teams continued to go back-and-forth with neither side getting a clear advantage until the Bears rallied six of eight points to go up by three. Mercer had Montana State on the ropes at 23-20, but the Bobcats won the next five points to close out the first set.
SET 2 I 30-28	Set two started similarly to set one, with the Bears jumping out to a 10-6 lead early. Mercer held the advantage until they got to set point with a four-point lead, where they experienced deja vu, giving up another five-point run to go down 25-24. Neither team wanted to take the set, as there were three service errors combined that knotted the score up at 28, before Mercer hit a trifecta of kills from Lara Matta, Avery Wilks, and Brooklyn Palmer to win 30-28.
SET 3 I 7-25	Both teams went back-and-forth early in the third set with the Bears holding a 7-6 lead over the Bobcats before Montana State went on a 19-point run to win the set 25-7.
SET 4 \| 25-20	Mercer and Montana State went back to their toe-to-toe match in the fourth set with the Bobcats holding a slight edge over the Bears at 13-10. The Orange and Black used a three-point run to tie the set at 18 and later rode a six-point finish to take the fourth set 25-20.
SET 5 \| 10-15	Montana State took an early 4-1 lead and never looked back. The Bears eventually went down 8-4 with three of the four points the Bears got being followed by service errors that ended up being too much to overcome. Mercer clawed back to within two, but the Bobcats won four of the last five points to take the set and the match.