Junior Erin Johnson led Stonehill with 15 kills and a .361
hitting percentage tonight.
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Merrimack Turns Back Stonehill
Rally, 3-1
Warriors edge Skyhawks in
fourth set as hosts threaten to rally for fifth set
Boxscore
EASTON, Mass. (October 27,
2009) - Merrimack College held off a late Stonehill
College rally to post a 3-1 (25-13, 25-12, 22-25, 27-25) victory in
non-conference volleyball action at Merkert Gymnasium tonight.
Merrimack cruised to a 2-0 lead,
but Stonehill rallied to win set three and then held a 23-19 lead
and had two set points in the fifth before the Warriors came back
to end the match.
Junior Molly Cindric
(Westlake Village, Calif./Oaks Christian) led Merrimack
with a match-high 25 kills with five errors on 65 total attacks for
a .305 hitting percentage to go with 19 digs, four service aces and
two blocks. Junior Elyze Lorenz (Frankfort,
Ill./Lincoln-Way East) dished out 50 assists and added 15
digs, while classmate Alyssa Pickert (Tinley Park,
Ill./Lincoln-Way East) finished with 24 digs.
Junior Megan Murray (Rancho
Santa Margarita, Calif./Trabuco Hills) and freshman
Shaunda Forcier (Gonic, N.H./Spaulding) each
chipped in with 11 kills. Murray did so with only two errors on 26
total attacks for a .360 hitting percentage.
Junior Erin Johnson
(Centerville, Mass./Barnstable) led Stonehill with 15
kills and just two errors on 36 attacks for a .361 hitting
percentage. Junior Andrea Wirth (Mesa, Ariz./St.
Mary's) collected 38 assists, while classmate
Justine Thompson (Merrimack, N.H./Bishop Guertin)
finished with 18 digs. Sophomore Laura Huselton (Penfield,
N.Y./Penfield) chipped in with a match-high 29 digs and
seven kills.
Merrimack hit a blistering .515 as
a team in cruising to the win in set one as Cindric posted ten
kills on 18 attacks with no errors for a .556 percentage in that
set alone. The Warriors jumped out to an 8-1 lead and never looked
back. Set two wasn't much better for Stonehill as Merrimack led
17-5 after an 11-1 run in the middle of the stanza. The Skyhawks
hit a combined .071 as a team through the first two sets.
Stonehill came alive in the third
which featured 12 ties and five lead changes. The Skyhawks were
down 22-20 after a Murray kill, but rallied with the final five
points of the set. Junior Anna Berthiaume (Somersworth,
N.H./Somersworth) sparked the rally with back-to-back
kills, while Johnson added one and the set ended on a Merrimack
hitting error.
Merrimack turned the tables on
Stonehill in set four to close out the match. The Skyhawks were two
points from forcing a fifth set after a Warriors hitting error made
it 23-19. Two Cindric kills, a service ace and Stonehill hitting
error knotted the score at 23-23. Wirth and junior Laura
Noonan (Hampstead, N.H./Bishop Guertin) combined for a
block to give the Skyhawks their first set point and after a
Cindric kill, earned their second set point on a solo block from
Noonan. However, Merrimack scored the final three points of the set
thanks to two Cindric kills and a Lorenz service ace to clinch the
win.
Stonehill (14-8, 8-3 NE-10) returns
to action on Thursday when it hosts Southern Connecticut State
University for its final home match of the season and Senior Night
at 7 p.m. Merrimack (19-9, 6-5 NE-10) visits Pace University on
Friday at 7 p.m.
