Wildcats Drop Pair of Matches on Opening Day of Mercer Tournament

Friday, August 27

Macon, GA

1 PM

University of New Hampshire

0-1,0-0America East

Murray State

1-0,0-0OVC

New Hampshire

Murray St.

Wildcats Drop Pair of Matches on Opening Day of Mercer Tournament

8/27/2021 8:52:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Box 1 Box 2

UNH dropped a pair of 3-1 matches to Murray State and host Mercer

MACON, Ga. – The University of New Hampshire volleyball team dropped a pair of matches in the opening day of the Mercer Tournament at Hawkins Arena on Friday.

In the late match vs. the host Bears, UNH fell to Mercer, 3-1. The set scores were 21-25, 25-22, 22-25, 24-26.

"I thought we played well today in bits and pieces," said UNH head coach Christopher Feliciano. "We struggled a little bit on capitalizing and gaining momentum on others mistakes. You see that with the majority of a young team, we aren't making excuses, we need to get better and we recognize that. There are a lot more positives than there are negatives Obviously starting the season 0-2 isn't the way we draw it up, but we have to recover and take care of business tomorrow."

Freshman right side hitter Marisa Armer (Bradenton, Fla.) led the way offensively for the 'Cats in the nightcap with a team-high 12 kills, a .296 hitting percentage and three blocks.

Senior middle blocker Abby Sullivan (Methuen, Mass.) totaled 11 kills, five of which came in the close loss in the first stanza for UNH. Sullivan also added a .429 hitting percentage and a match-high seven total blocks.

Sophomore outside hitter Hannah Serbousek (Fort Collins, Colo.) added another nine kills with a .219 hitting percentage and nine digs, while sophomore middle blocker Kelly Kaufmann (Raleigh, N.C.) and senior outside hitter Kate Bilyeu (Omaha, Neb.) added eight and six kills, respectively. Sophomore libero Mia Pagliarini (Springboro, Ohio) was stellar once again on defense with 21 digs.

Junior setter Wren Macaulay (Lake Orion, Mich.) notched 42 assists and 13 digs quarterbacking the UNH offense.

UNH hit over .300 in the first and third sets, while tallying a match-high 17 kills in the third stanza alone.

Taylor Lynch amassed 22 kills in the win for Mercer.

In the season opener, the Wildcats fell to Murray State in four sets, 3-1. The set scores were 12-25, 20-25, 25-23 and 25-27.

Serbousek led the way with a team-high nine kills for the Wildcats, to go along with five digs and four service aces and blocks. Serbousek, who recorded a set-clinching ace in the third frame, also notched a perfect 22-for-22 on serve receive for the 'Cats. Armer notched eight kills and four blocks in her collegiate debut for UNH. Sullivan added six kills and four blocks, while Bilyeu notched five kills, eight digs and was 20 for 21 (.952) on serve receive in the losing effort.

Pagliarini amassed 13 digs in a strong defensive performance, while Macaulay registered 34 assists running the Wildcats' offense.

UNH notched a set-high 17 kills in the fourth frame, to go along with a match-high .310 hitting percentage in the final stanza. UNH totaled 22 total blocks in the match with seven players recording multi-block efforts.

Brooke Watts notched a match-high 25 kills in the victory for Murray State.

The Wildcats return to action in the final day of the Mercer Tournament with a matchup with Stetson University. Match time from Hawkins Arena is 12 p.m. ET.

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