On Wednesday the Quinnipiac volleyball team swept the Merrimack Warriors in three sets.
The first set opened up as even as things could get, with the two squads splitting the first six points of the set, three apiece.
The Bobcats picked things up scoring the next five points, capped off by an Avry Bryant attack error, taking an 8-3 lead and forcing a Warriors timeout.
The Warriors went on a run of their own following the timeout and scored two of the next three points, before having their momentum halted by a serving error.
The Bobcats didn’t look back as the Warriors never came within closer than two points of the Bobcats for the rest of the set as Quinnipiac went on to win 25-22.
Set two started similarly to the first one as the teams were tied at two early. Following the same script as the first set, the Bobcats went on another scoring run to take a 6-2 lead.
The Bobcats took the lead and ran with it as they would extend it to as much as 15 in this set. Quinnipiac ultimately won the set by a score of 25-10 to take a 2-0 lead.
The Warriors came out guns blazing in the third set scoring the first four points and taking a 6-1 lead.
This forced Quinnipiac head coach Kyle Robinson to call a timeout. The Bobcats got a bit of momentum out of the timeout with a Marissa Kobelski service error for Merrimack.
“I think we just had to build those connections again. You know, sometimes we get into little dips,” said sophomore Leilani-kai Giusta, “But we try our best to not dig too deep and yeah, we really all just trust each other, even if we’re down.”
Quinnipiac went on to score four out of the next five points, highlighted by libero Carola Negron Diaz making a highlight reel dig that ricocheted over the net and inbounds for a point.
The Bobcats were able to claw back and eventually tie the game at 11 before completely taking over. Quinnipiac scored eight straight points to take a 19-11 lead.
Merrimack came back and made it a game, but Quinnipiac was ultimately able to close it out and complete the 3-0 sweep by a final score of 25-19.
Despite the late start in this one, Burt Kahn Court was rocking with students and spectators when the final point was scored.
“We have such a great, cool student body, cool community of students, student athletes, professors, administrators,” said Robinson. “So when we can, when we can all get together, I love it and to see them come out on a Wednesday night, late match.”
Giusta led the Bobcats with nine kills in the matchup while Aubrey Baker led the Warriors with four.
The Bobcats will look to make it back-to-back conference wins when they travel to Fairfield on Saturday, Oct. 5, at 1:00.
