MACON, Ga. (Oct. 6, 2023) – The ETSU volleyball team fell in three sets at Mercer (25-18, 25-18, 25-22) on Friday night in Southern Conference action.
 
Stat Standouts – Offensively, Brianna Cantrell and Amanda Lowe paced the Bucs with nine kills a piece. Cantrell also added 10 digs and three aces in the contest. Jasmal Cruz led the ETSU defense totaling 13 bringing her career total to 1,496.
 
Set 1 – ETSU and Mercer were locked in a battle early on in Friday's match. A 3-0 run put together by the Bears grew their lead to four at the media timeout, 15-11. The Buccaneers battled back to cut the deficit to a pair of points, 16-14. However, Mercer quickly reeled off 6-0 run to regain control of the set, 22-14. The eight-point gap between the Bucs and Bears was trimmed to seven before Mercer claimed the first frame, 25-18.
 
Set 2 – The second set was similar to the first as a late run from Mercer was the difference. A kill from Cantrell made the score 17-16 Mercer. The Bear offense would rip off another 6-0 run to seize momentum again, 23-16. Fueled in large part to that run, Mercer would repeat a 25-18 set victory in the second.
 
Set 3 – In what proved to be the final frame of Friday's match, Mercer looked like it may run away with it as it scored five of the first six points. ETSU would fight back to tie the score, which began a trend of 11 different tied points in the third. Jenna Forster led the charge in the third with four kills on six attempts for the Bucs. Backed by the play of Forster and the rest of the Bucs, ETSU had a 21-20 lead late in the third. Mercer scored three straight points to force a Buccaneer timeout with the score reading 23-21 Bears. A kill from Lowe briefly got the Bucs back within a point but back-to-back points from Mercer finished off the match, 25-22.
 
Next Up – ETSU, now 1-15 overall and 1-4 in SoCon play, will be back in action tomorrow night when it visits Samford in another SoCon matchup. First serve between the Bucs and Bulldogs is slated for 6 p.m. on ESPN+.
 
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