The Mercyhurst Women’s volleyball team competed in the PSAC/Mountain East Crossover this past weekend. The Lakers played the West Virginia Wesleyan College Bobcats on Friday, Sept. 17, and the David & Elkins College Senators on Saturday, Sept. 18. The Lakers also had another game this past Saturday against the Shepherd University Rams.

The Lakers were coming off of a 3-5 record in their previous tournaments of the year, Ram Fest and the Cavalier Invitational. They were also the first team to be able to utilize the newly renovated Mercyhurst Athletic Center (MAC). The MAC has been under renovation for only five months and the renovation cost about three million dollars.

In their first match against the Bobcats, the Lakers were able to sweep their opponents in three sets. The Lakers dominated the first set as the final score was 25-15. Their hitting percentage was .520, which is well above what is considered to be a good hitting percentage in volleyball.

The second set was similar to the first as the Lakers beat the Bobcats 25-18. The third set was a little different as the Bobcats held the lead at 17-15, but the Lakers made a comeback and eventually won the third set with a final score of 25-22.

The standout players in this game were Beth Brady, Hailey Wilson, and Madison Kasper who got 12, seven, and six kills respectively. On defense, sophomore Maggie Thomas and Kasper each recorded two blocks during the match and Brady had seven digs while senior libero, Hannah Vuylsteke, had six.

At the end of the game, the Lakers’ hitting percentage was .333, which is still a great percentage.In their second match of the weekend, the Lakers fell 2-3 to the Senators. The first two sets were very close yet the Senators came out on top as the final scores were 25-20 and 25-23 respectively. The Lakers came back and had a pretty easy third set as they held the Senators to a low score of 25-12. The Lakers also won a very close fourth set 25-23 pushing the game into a fifth set. The fifth set was also a close one, but the Senators were able to defeat the Lakers again with a score of 15-13.

Brady, Kasper, and Wilson all had a great game with respect to kills as they had 22, 14 and 11, respectively. Thomas was an asset at the net as she had five blocks, which is her new career high.In their third and final match of the weekend, the Lakers fell to the Rams once again in five sets.

The Rams won the opening set 25-21, but the Lakers came back and won the second set 25-23. Mercyhurst lost the third set 25-9 but came back strong as they won the fourth set 27-25 pushing the game into a fifth set. The Lakers were down 14-8 at one point but had a four-point comeback to make it 14-12. However, the Rams were able to score one more point to make the final score 15-12. Kasper and Brady had another great game offensively with 15 and 10 kills each and redshirt senior, Chase Cole, had 10 kills as well.

Isa McCaffrey and Vuylsteke each had 19 digs to help the Lakers offensively. Senior, Zoe Gadomski had eight aces in one match.Ryan Patton, head coach for the Lakers, talked about what the team did well in their games over the weekend. “From really all of our middle hitters, we saw what an effective quick attack adds to our game. We’ll encourage them and our setters to find ways to make it a more consistent option. Our depth at middle hitter is an asset this team has,” said Patton.The Lakers will be back in the Mercyhurst Athletic Center this Friday, Sept. 24 at 7:05 p.m. for Homecoming Weekend.