KSU’s volleyball team dropped its first five-set match of the season, falling to the Mercer Bears 3-2 in front of a season high 638 fans on Saturday afternoon.
In the fifth set, Kayla Stevenson brought the Owls within five. Down 10-5 after a KSU timeout, the Owls looked to refocus and make a run. The Bears defense had different plans.
“I’m proud of my team for such a hard fought match,” KSU head coach Karen Weatherington said. “The intensity went back and forth so much and we ended up just missing on a couple of balls that we wanted to run in our system and they just didn’t fall our way.”
Mercer’s defense was the story for most of the game. The Bear’s Molly Locke recorded her 225th kill of the season on the first point of the game, causing the Owls to fall behind early in the first set. Behind the play of Stevenson and Turea Jones, KSU fought their way back, tying the set at 9-9 after Mercer spiked a ball out of bounds.
Stevenson led the Owls in kills during the first set with five, while Jones provided momentum down the stretch with two kills and a block in three straight points. With KSU in control at 24-22, a Mercer miscommunication sealed an opening set victory for the Owls.
The Bears miscommunication woes continued into the second set, as the Owls jumped out to a 6-3 lead. The Bears took a timeout after Baylee Strachan’s 3rd kill of the game put the Owls up by four. Mercer regained their composure, and came out firing. After Stevenson spiked the ball out of bounds, the Bears were able to tie the set at 9-9. A kill by Locke gave Mercer the lead on the following point.
The miscommunication seemed to switch sides, as suddenly the Owls struggled to play defense. The Bears secured a lead after scoring on four straight points. Despite a late set surge by Emily Bean and Stevenson, KSU dropped the second set to the Bears by a score of 25-18, behind the strong play of Locke and Jaime Duffy.
Strachan wasn’t ready to let her Owls go down so easily. Despite recording six kills and one block in the third set, the senior’s dominance couldn’t outmatch the Bears. As the miscommunication continued for KSU, Mercer capitalized on a number of Owl mistakes. The third set was all black and orange, as the Bears used their great defense to take a 2-1 lead over the Owls.
KSU evened the game when they came out firing on the fourth set. Bean opened with a kill for the Owls, and Camille Pedraza used a great dig to set up a spike by Jones, allowing KSU to take a 3-0 lead.
“Camille had another solid game for us,” Weatherington said of her junior libero. “She really kept us going out there and kept her teammate’s heads up and kept us in our rhythm.”
A complete team effort by the Owls allowed them to finish off the Bears in the fourth set. Strachan recorded her 10th kill of the game, and an ace by Jones on the next serve made it 6-1. The Bears defense played hard, but the combined effort of Jones and Strachan helped the Owls push the match to a decisive set. Pedraza had another huge dig to setup the set winning kill, as KSU took it 25-11.
Strachan came out firing in the final set, recording her 13th kill in the process. The deciding set was a close, back-and-forth contest early on. The Bears defense continued to do what it had done much of the game, and midway through the set, Mercer made some key plays that allowed them to take an 8-3 lead. Stevenson and Strachan made some late plays to try and swing momentum, but the Bears were able to hold on, claiming the set with a 15-8 win.
KSU fell to 4-5 in conference play, while Mercer was able to match the Owls record with the win. The Bears snapped a two-game losing streak, pushing them to 2-5 in their last five games.
Stevenson led the Owls with 14 kills, while Strachan and Jones were right behind her with 13 and 11. Pedraza led KSU with 23 digs, the best defensive stat of the game on the Owls side. The team will return to action on Tuesday, when they host ETSU in a 7 p.m. match.
