FAIRFIELD, Conn. — Sacred Heart University men's volleyball back at the Pitt Center for the first time in nearly three weeks, beating NEC opponent Merrimack College 3-2.
Records:
SHU 5-7 (3-2 NEC)
Merrimack 6-9 (1-4 NEC)
Top Performers:
Mark Berry 16 kills, 1 service ace, 4 blocks, 19 points
Patrick Mucherino 12 kills, 1 service ace, 4 blocks, 9 digs, 15.5 points
Tyler Kwinta 45 assists, 11 digs
Ife Loverton 5 blocks
Up Next:
The Pioneers will have a rematch with the Warriors in North Andover, Massachusetts on March 18th.
Of Note:
Sacred Heart never trailed in the first set, jumping on top of the Warriors to start 8-4 with help from two Patrick Mucherino kills and several Merrimack errors. Two consecutive kills for Mark Berry on Tyler Kwinta assists helped the Pioneers extend to an 18-10 lead before holding the Warriors at bay to seal the set 25-18 after another kill from Berry.
Merrimack and Sacred Heart would split the first four points of the second set before the Warriors would win three straight points to get out to a 5-2 early lead. Kills from Berry, Mucherino and Kwinta would close the gap to 9-7 before the teams would flip flop eleven consecutive points as Merrimack jumped out 14-12. Service errors from Sacred Heart would help Merrimack extend to a 21-17 lead and eventually win the second set 25-22 with late kills from Ife Loverton and Carlos Santa Cruz.
Kills from Loverton, Berry, Mucherino, and Ryan Benscoter helped SHU to an early 7-4 lead to start the third set. Merrimack and Sacred Heart would split pairs of points as two more kills from Santa Cruz would put the Pios up 11-8. Merrimack would even things at 15 after a 7-4 scoring run with some kills of their own and a couple Sacred Heart service errors. A Loverton kill for Sacred Heart would initiate teams trading points until 23 all before Merrimack pulled away 25-23 on consecutive kills to secure the third set victory.
SHU would start the fourth set on an 8-1 run with help from Berry and Mucherino kills and a service ace from Santa Cruz. The Warriors would take four of seven points to make it 11-5 in favor of the Pioneers before the red and white took five of the next seven after that to go up 16-8 halfway through the penultimate set. SHU would end the set on a 9-4 scoring run via at least two kids from Berry, Loverton and Mucherino, ending the set convincingly heading into the final tilt of the evening.
Merrimack would score the first two of the final set before SHU swung eleven of the next fifteen points via four Warrior attack errors and kills from Loverton, Benscoter and Santa Cruz, including consecutive Benscoter service aces to make it 11-6. Sacred Heart would eventually close the game on a Merrimack attack error by a 15-10 decision.
