Mercer Volleyball emerged victorious in both of their matches this weekend, winning against Eastern Tennessee State University on Friday and University of Tennessee- Chattanooga on Saturday.
The Bears won all three sets at ETSU with scores of 26-24, 25-17 and 25-16. Outside hitter Annie Karle led the team in kills, finishing with 11, middle hitter Rayanne de Oliveira led with two aces and setter Agnieska Paskevic led with 35 assists.
Mercer narrowly won the first match against Chattanooga 25-23, then took full control and won the next two sets 25-27 and 25-17 to win the match 3-0. Rayanne de Oliveira led with 12 kills while Paskevic led with 31 assists. Karle, libero Megan Smith and defensive specialist Lexi Uhrhan scored two aces each.
Mercer now has a 9-8 record so far this season, with SoCon play accounting four over half of their victories. The Bears have notched a 5-1 record in conference matches and a 0.529 overall win percentage. The team currently has a four-game winning streak, which they hope to maintain as they enter the second half of the season.
The team has struggled in tournament matchups, with seven losses in a row at away tournaments in September, but has performed well in conference games, which comprise the remainder of their 2021 season.
Next up for the team are two home matches, one against Samford Wednesday at 7 p.m. and one against Furman on Oct. 16 at 6 p.m. Both matches will be played in Hawkins Arena.
Samantha Homcy ‘23 is a junior at Mercer majoring in journalism and criminal justice. She has been working at The Cluster since her freshman year and served as Social Media Co-Manager during the spring 2021 semester. She is currently a practicum intern with WMAZ-TV. In her free time she enjoys music, community service, watching TV and finding new ways to get involved on Mercer’s campus.
