Bryant Volleyball Defeats Mercy 3-1 in NCAA First Round

November 18, 2004

BRYANT VOLLEYBALL DEFEATS MERCY 3-1 IN NCAA FIRST ROUND

QUEENS, NY ? Michelle Muniz (Guaynabo, P.R.) had a match-high 26 kills to help lead the Bryant women?s volleyball team to a 3-1 win over Mercy College in the quarterfinal round of the 2004 NCAA Division II Northeast Volleyball Regional here Thursday night. With the win, the Bulldogs (35-5) will move on to face top-seeded Queens on Friday at 7:30 p.m.

The Bulldogs started off slowly, falling behind 0-4 to open the match and would drop the first game 30-21. However, behind the play of Muniz and freshman Jessica Henson (Bedford, TX), the Bulldogs would get hot and steal back the momentum from the Flyers in the second.

The Bulldogs roared out to an 8-3 lead to open the second game and after Mercy rallied back to take a 9-8 lead, Muniz and junior Lindsay Klix (Rochester Hills, MI) helped Bryant put together a 5-1 run as Bryant led 15-12 and never looked back in winning 30-22.

In the third, the Bulldogs fell behind early 11-8 as Yulissa Zamudio helped keep the Flyers in the match with timely hitting from the middle. Zamudio finished with a team-best 24 kills however the Bulldogs had too many weapons.

A kill by Henson made it 16-12 and after Mercy came back to tie it 20-20, Muniz and company stepped up play at the net and with the serving to pull out a 30-25 lead and take a 2-1 lead in the match. The Bulldogs had 10 service aces in the match and 10 blocks led by Jessica Cegarra?s (Danville, NH) four blocks at the net.

In the decisive fourth, Bryant raced out to a 10-6 lead and led 20-12 before the Flyers put together one last run with seven-straight points to pull to within 20-19 and tied the game at 20-20 on a hitting error by Bryant.

But that would be as close as the Flyers would get as a service ace by Tiffany Garry (Frankfort, IL) and kill by Muniz made the score 30-29 and the Bulldogs put the game away on a Henson kill from the left side as the team advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament for the third consecutive year.

The win also marked the just the second time Bryant has been able to come back after losing the first game in seven matches this season.

Henson had 11 kills and seven digs while Klix added eight kills.