NORTH ANDOVER, MA – The Merrimack College men's volleyball team secured a senior night victory in their last home match of the year in four sets.
The Basics
Score: Merrimack 3, LIU 1
Records: Merrimack (8-14, 3-7), LIU (14-12, 8-4)
How It Happened
The Warriors wanted to come away with a split on the weekend after dropping last night's match to FDU. MC was celebrating senior day for their lone senior
Matthew Motes. The Warriors came out with a purpose and on absolute fire. They would score the first five points of the match. Merrimack was able to maintain that lead from beginning to end going wire to wire to win the first set. They would come away with a dominating 25-16 set one victory.
In the second set the Warriors continued the punishment as they took four of the first five points. LIU would be able to tie it up rather quickly and from there it would be back and forth play from both sides. Neither team seemed to gain an edge until Merrimack went on a five point run to go up 20-16. From there it was easy as A-B-C for the Warriors who took care of the set winning 25-23 taking a two sets to zero lead over the surging Sharks.
LIU came into the match having won 10 straight but the Warriors didn't seem to have a care in the world about that. They started the third set just like they had in the first and second going up 6-0. The Warriors kept a steady lead for a good portion of the set, having an answer for each of LIU's strikes. The Sharks kept making pushes, cutting it down to two at multiple points late in the set. LIU forced Merrimack to use a timeout as it became just a one point lead. Out of the timeout LIU took full control of the set as they powered their way to a fourth set win 25-22.
LIU did its job forcing the fourth set but that's about all Merrimack wanted to let them do. The Warriors jumped out to a 14-6 lead to put themselves in commanding position in the fourth set. They would continue to maintain their lead with powerful kills from
Yulius Melvin Brown Rudolf and
Matthew Motes. LIU was able to back into it forcing the Warriors to use multiple timeouts as this one came right down to the wire. It was tied multiple times including at 25 a piece. The two teams would trade blows and mistakes as it would take 31 points to finish it with a
Logan Whitaker ace as Merrimack captured the win.
Notes and Numbers
Up Next
Merrimack will head to New York to take on Daeman University on April 12th at 6:00 PM.
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