November 18, 2010

Volleyball Eliminated by Belmont

FORT MYERS, Fla. – Outside hitter Amiee Frutchey had 12 kills and 12 digs, but Mercer’s comeback bid fell short and Belmont took a 3-1 (25-21, 25-15, 23-25, 25-15) victory in Thursday afternoon’s Atlantic Sun Volleyball Championship first round match at Alico Arena.

Mercer was eliminated from the tournament and finished its season 14-18 (6-4 A-Sun).  No. 4 Belmont (14-13, 7-3 A-Sun) advanced to the semifinal round to face No. 1 Lipscomb on Friday.

“So proud of my team for not laying down and dying,” Mercer head coach Noelle Rooke said.  “We fought till the end and they left their heart on the floor. I’m sorry to see our seniors go because they were all major contributors to our program.”

After dropping the first two sets, Mercer found itself trailing 10-7 in the third before employing a 6-3 spurt to tie the set at 13 apiece.  Belmont attempted to halt Mercer’s charge with a timeout, but freshman Carly Iannarino aced the first serve after the stoppage and then assisted Anna Coursey on a kill to give Mercer a 15-13 lead.

Later in the set, the teams were knotted at 17 before Iannarino set Frutchey for her third kill of the frame.  Frutchey’s kill keyed a 3-0 run for Mercer that forced Belmont to use another timeout.  Belmont would close to within one score four more times, but Mercer held strong and captured the third set, 25-23.

In the fourth set, Belmont broke away from a 3-3 tie with four straight scores and never relinquished the advantage.

 “It is unfortunate we lost but everyone’s season has to come to an end,” Rooke said.  “I give credit where credit is due, and they are a very good serving team.”

Freshman Bridget Sheerin recorded her sixth double-double effort of the year with 16 assists and 10 digs.  Iannarino finished the contest with 13 assists and five digs.

Senior Libby Hansch finished the match with seven kills on 13 swings and a pair of digs.  Senior Krista Hurley smashed five kills with only one error and collected two block assists in the match.  Senior Erica Vrvilo crushed three kills and contributed four digs in the loss.

Junior libero Charlotte Harris added 20 digs to her program record single-season dig total.  Harris finished the season with 638 digs.