DOBBS FERRY, NY – Senior Teagan Weber led a tough defense with 23 digs and junior Olivia Price led the offense with 17 kills as the Roberts Wesleyan University Women's Volleyball team came back from a 2-0 deficit to win 3-2 over Mercy University on the road Sunday in East Coast Conference (ECC) play.
Mercy (6-5 overall, 0-3 ECC) had a strong start and won the first two sets 25-21 and 25-20 but Roberts (10-5, 2-2 ECC) battled back and took charge of the momentum with a pair of high scoring sets winning 27-25 and 28-26 to knot the score at 2-2 and force the tie-breaker set.
The momentum turn came in the third set when Roberts used a 4-1 run to force a Slurpee-Time 11-7 lead and a Mercy time out.
In the fifth set, Mercy started with a 4-1 early edge but Roberts rallied again and took a late 10-8 lead. The teams traded points as junior Morgan Verbridge and Price had back-to-back kills to give the Redhawks a 12-10 edge. Two more points by the Mavericks tied the score at 12-12 before Price connected on another kill to spark two-point run for the 14-12 lead.
The Mavericks scored a point to trim the lead but Price finished the match with her 17th kill for the come-from-behind victory.
"We started slow but our experience paid off and we rallied," said Head Coach Andy Braun. "They have been through this before and played great together. They really believe in each other."
The win over Mercy was the first since 2018 as the Mavericks entered the day with an 8-match win streak in the series.
"It's nice to stop a streak like that," said Braun. "This team doesn't really look at the past. Our focus in on the future and that has translated into wins for us."
Price led the team with her 17 kills (.310 attack percentage) and senior Sydney Yanak added 15 kills, four aces and 11 digs. Junior Caleigh Schroeder handed out 47 assists, had four aces and eight digs.
Weber led the defense with 23 digs and fellow senior Sarina Pasquantonio chipped in eight digs.
The Redhawks returns to action Friday with a single match at American International College before returning home for a Wednesday match October 16 against Daemen University in ECC play.
