October 30, 2010

Volleyball Falls to Campbell in Five Set Heartbreaker

BUIES CREEK, N.C. – Mercer sophomore Jamie Duffy tallied a career-high 20 kills, but her effort wasn’t enough to stop Campbell from claiming a 3-2 (25-19, 21-25, 21-25, 25-23, 15-13) victory in Saturday night’s Atlantic Sun Conference volleyball match at Gore Arena.

Mercer saw its four-match conference winning streak snapped and fell to 11-16 (4-3 A-Sun) while Campbell improved to 10-15 (4-4 A-Sun).

Duffy was also credited with 15 digs and notched her second double-double performance of the season.  The Manhattan Beach, Calif. native struck only four errors in five sets and recorded a .320 hitting percentage.

Junior Charlotte Harris collected a match-high 35 digs, extending her conference-leading dig total to 508.  With four regular season matches remaining, Harris’ 508 digs is the fourth highest single-season total in program history.

After dropping the opening set, Mercer stormed back with 25-21 victories in both the second and third sets.  Mercer out-hit the opponent in both the second and third sets, setting up an opportunity to clinch its fifth-straight league win in the fourth set.

Mercer played well in the fourth set, recording a team hitting percentage of .324.  After jumping out to a 7-4 lead, Mercer held its advantage until Campbell rallied to tie the set at 19 apiece.  Moments later, Campbell pulled away from a 22-22 tie with two-straight points and ultimately prevailed 25-23.

In the fifth set, Mercer took another early lead, scoring the first two points of the set via a kill by junior Amiee Frutchey and a Campbell attacking error.  Later, Campbell trailed 10-7 before scoring three times to pull even once again.

With the deciding set knotted at 13-13, Campbell scored consecutive points to cap its come-from-behind victory.

Mercer junior Anna Coursey added 12 kills with just three errors in the losing effort.  Senior Libby Hansch spiked 11 kills with only two errors in defeat.

Mercer returns to action hosting UNC Wilmington on Sunday at 2 p.m.