Wesleyan volleyball pushes Mercyhurst to the end but falls 3-2; tumbles to No. 25 Gannon, 3-1

Sports Release
September 10, 2022

ERIE, Pa. — The West Virginia Wesleyan (1-6) volleyball team fell in matches against Mercyhurst (2-5) and no. 25 Gannon (6-3) on Friday (Sept. 9).

WVWC Leaders
Junior Hope Arce-Reed led the Lady Bobcats with 27 kills on the day. She set a career-high in game one versus Mercyhurst with 19 kills. Arce-Reed topped her career-high of 16 kills, which was set on Tuesday (Sept. 5) versus Salem. Mya Bajramovic added 19 kills. Senior Payton Hefner passed 40 assists for the Lady Bobcats. Freshman Sarah McCall chipped in with 27 assists. Defensively, Autumn Molenhouse had 32 digs on the day. Bajramovic and Joelle Lalla each had six blocks.

Mercyhurst 3, WVWC 2
Set one remained close throughout. Tied at 3-3, WVWC scored three straight to make the score 6-3. Mercyhurst fired off six straight points to take the lead 10-8. The remainder of the first set would see the two foes battle back and forth. Tied at 23-23, the Lady Bobcats slammed the door shut on the first set winning, 25-23. Bajramovic stuffed a Mercyhurst attack for a block solo to wrap up the first set.

The second set included 14 tie scores and six lead changes. With the score tied 16-16, Wesleyan put their foot on the gas and took the next four points to lead 20-16. The Lakers didn’t step down. The home team fought back to tie the score 22-22, before winning set two, 25-23.

In set three WVWC jumped out to a hot start leading 7-1. Mercyhurst slowly fought their way back into it eventually knotted the score 13-13. The Lady Bobcats fired off four straight and took the lead 17-14. The Lakers didn’t give up. They responded and went on a run of their own to tie it at 17-17. Mercyhurst took a 21-19 lead before winning set three, 25-21.

WVWC started set four with a statement and jumped out to a 9-0 lead. The Lakers showed no quit and tied the score 15-15. With the score even at 18-18, WVWC would score seven of the final nine points to win set four, 25-20.

Set five did not disappoint, totaling nine lead changes and two lead changes. WVWC led 7-4 before the Lakers fired off five straight points to take the lead 9-7. With Mercyhurst ahead 12-9, Arce-Reed, Bajramovic delivered kills to close the gap to one point. The Lakers committed an attack error to even the score 12-12. Both teams exchanged the ensuing the next six decisions. Mercyhurst won two consecutive points and escaped with a 17-15 win in the winner-take-all set.

#25 Gannon 3, WVWC 1
The Golden Knights jumped out to an 8-3 lead in set one. WVWC cut the deficit to three 10-7. Gannon fired off six straight to lead 16-7. The Golden Knights won set one, 25-15. In set two, Gannon held a slight lead over the Bobcats at 8-6. Gannon rumbled off nine straight to lead 17-6 before winning set two, 25-11.

WVWC showed no quit in set three and broke out to a 13-5 lead. Gannon cut the deficit to five at 13-8. The Lady Bobcats went on the attack and ripped off seven straight points to lead 20-8. WVWC responded with a set three win, 25-15.

Set four began with the score tied 3-3. Gannon solidified a comfortable 19-8 lead after winning 15 of the next 21 points. The Golden Knights won set four, 25-12.

Up Next
The Lady Bobcats will head to Edinboro, Pa. tomorrow (Sept. 10) to take on East Stroudsburg at 1 p.m. and will end play on Saturday versus Edinboro at 4 p.m.