Warriors best Titans in three sets

The Mercer County Titans volleyball team (21-9) fell to the top team in the 12th Region with the Southwestern Warriors (26-7) getting the 3-0 victory Thursday, Oct. 6. The Titans were competitive scoring 21, 15 and 24 points across the three sets, but couldn’t overcome the Warriors hitters. Southwestern ended Mercer’s season last year in the first round of the 12th region tournament. 

Senior Taylor Murphy kicked off the first set with an ace to give Mercer the lead, but her next serve hit the net, 1-1. Southwestern jumped out ahead with a block at the net and kill into the back line, 1-4. The Titans tied the game back up with a kill from senior Jai Maria Piazza, 4-4. Madisynn Griffin retook the lead for Mercer with high arching a hit over the Warriors frontline, 5-4. 

Powerful hits from Southwestern helped them go on a four point run that ended with a service error, 6-9. Piazza had another big kill off a Murphy set and Southwestern put another serve into the net, 9-11. The Titans talented freshmen connected for a point with Grayson Perry setting Ralasia Piazza for a big kill into the back line, 10-14. Mercer hurt themselves with some errors giving Southwestern a six point lead, 10-16. 

Senior Jamesyn White had her first kill of the night off a Perry set to end the Warriors run, 11-16. Southwestern’s back line handled a good spike from Teigh Yeast to win a point on a long rally,  11-17. The Warriors gave up some points with errors and miscommunications on the back line combined with an ace from Murphy to bring the game within three, 15-18.  

Southwestern picked up two quick points and Mercer’s Head Coach called a timeout to settle her team, 15-20. Murphy did a good job setting up R. Piazza for a kill, but the Warriors were able to recover until J. Piazza had her turn with a kill to earn the point, 16-21. Perry and Avery Robinson did a great job keeping the ball alive for a hard earned point for the Titans on a J. Piazza kill, 17-22. 

The Warriors picked up two points on Mercer errors to bring up match point, 17-24. The Titans fought back with White getting a block at the net and a point off a Kallise Gammon serve, 20-24. Jorga Sanford and White built a good  wall at the net to block a Southwestern kill, but the Warriors finally got the match point on a kill to the back line, 21-25. 

In the second set, the Warriors had the first point, but J. Piazza evened it up with a kill at the net, 1-1. A Southwestern service error and a kill from White put Mercer up one, 3-2. The Titans blocked the Warriors at the net, but gave a point back on  a bad serve, 4-3. J. Piazza earned two quick points with a hit over the Warriors front line, 6-3. 

Southwestern was resilient and never went away with blocks at the net and Mercer struggling with their digs, the Warriors tied the set up, 8-8. A miscommunication and a big block at the net put Southwestern out in front, 10-13. Mercer went down five points and called a time out and the Warriors put a serve into the net coming out of the break, 11-16.

The Warriors did a good job killing balls cross court in the hole of Mercer defense, 12-17. J. Piazza earned a much needed point on a kill, but Southwestern was in rhythm and put the set away on a spike to the back line, 15-25. 

In the third set, Southwestern jumped out ahead to an early lead until putting one into the net, 1-3. Griffin put a hit over the Warriors front line and J. Piazza hammered one down to tie up the game, 3-3.  Mercer worked hard to win a good back and forth rally, but put the following serve into the net, 4-4. Griffin secured two points with back-to-back aces to give Mercer the lead, 7-4.

Perry had a great set to J. Piazza for a dominate spike that forced a Southwestern time out with the Titans up, 9-5. J. Piazza served up an ace followed by the Warriors getting two points on kills, 10-7. White and J. Piazza went back-to-back with spikes for the Titans 13-8. The Warriors fought back into the game with the longest rally of the night going their way to tie up the set, 15-15.

The Warriors took the lead on ace, but gave it back on the next serve hitting the net, 17-17.  An error from the Titans and a kill from Southwestern put Mercer down two, 19-17. Yeast had a big play going over the Warriors front line then went on her own run with two kills in a row coming off of Gammon laying out as the libero, 22-20. 

Errors from Southwestern put Mercer up by three, but the Titans couldn’t capitalize with Yeast getting blocked at the net, 23-22. The Warriors served up an ace and Mercer called a time out with the game tied, 23-23. Southwestern took the lead by finding a hole in the back line, but the game stayed tied with a service error, 24-24. The Warriors put the game away with a kill and earned the match point on a miscommunication by the Titans front line, 26-24. 

Southwestern is the top team in the region for a reason, but the Titans showed in the last set the gap is not too far. Mercer has one final regular season home game Thursday, Oct. 13. against Nelson County   (20-3) with varsity starting at 7 p.m.

Stats

Kills: J. Piazza 13, Yeast 4, White 4, R. Piazza 4, Griffin 2.

Sets: Murphy 22, Perry 5.

Aces: J. Piazza 1; Murphy 1, Yeast 1, White 1, Griffin 3.

Digs: J. Piazza 5, Murphy 3, Gammon 16, Yeast 2, Perry 3, White 2, Griffin 4, Robinson 6. 

Blocks: J. Piazza 2, Yeast 1, White 1.