Volleyball Defeats Merrimack in Five Sets on Friday Night

The Central Connecticut volleyball team won its first Northeast Conference match of the season with a 3-2 win at Merrimack on Friday night. The Blue Devils took the final two sets to rally for the win, led by Weronika Poczynek's double-double.

CCSU travels to Stonehill for a 5:00 p.m. match on Saturday.

GAME INFORMATION | BOX SCORE

Score:  CCSU 3, Merrimack 2 (26-24, 21-25, 23-25, 25-13, 15-10)
Records: CCSU (2-12, 1-2 NEC), Merrimack (3-11, 2-1 NEC)
Location: Hammel Court | North Andover, MA

KEY MOMENTS

• CCSU scored the first four points of the match, but Merrimack would come back to draw even at 6-6. The teams would got back and forth with Central taking a 18-13 lead after a 6-1 run that opened with a block by Isabelle Roufs and Mia Lombardo. CCSU would have set point at 24-23 before the Warriors got a block to stay alive. CCSU would finish the set with a kill by Lombardo.
• The Warriors would rally back to take sets two and three to build a lead in the match. In the second set, MC broke a tie and went ahead 21-19 before going on to win the set. In the third set, CCSU led 10-5 but Merrimack clawed back to tie it at 17-17. The Warriors scored three straight to go ahead 22-19 and would close the set out to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
• In the fourth set, a kill by Roufs sparked a six point run for CCSU to go ahead 13-6. The lead would grow to 21-9 after an ace by Poczynek and the Blue Devils would go on to force a fifth set.
• The Blue Devils rebounded from a 6-3 hole to score three straight points and draw even on a kill by Isabella Bratzke. CCSU would score eight straight points in all and go ahead 11-6 after a block by Roufs and Larissa Hiemer. Central would maintain control and close  the match out with a block by Lombardo and Victoria Sanabria.

NUMBER TO KNOW

41 – Larissa Hiemer posted a season-high 41 assists, her second 40-assist match of the season.

NOTES

• CCSU improved to 9-0 all-time against Merrimack.
• Poczynek posted her fifth double-double of the season. It was her fourth in the past five matches and she added four services aces in the match.
• Roufs added 13 kills and a team-high four total blocks, while hitting .423.
• The Blue Devils had a season-high 11 service aces.

UP NEXT

The Blue Devils travel to Easton, MA to play Stonehill on Saturday at 5:00 p.m.

Follow @CCSUBlueDevils on Twitter and CCSUBlueDevils.com for updates.