Senior day brought a win for the ETSU Buccaneers volleyball team. They defeated conference opponent Mercer in five games on Saturday.
The Bucs took the first game, 30-22, and Mercer snagged the next two, 30-22 and 30-23. Then the Bucs pulled away the final two games, 30-28 and 15-6, to cinch victory.
“I’m happy, we’re happy, that we finished up with a victory in front of the home crowd, especially for our seniors,” said head coach Lindsey Devine.
“We really thank our great fans for pushing us through that last game,” Devine said. “That is how we know we can play. Its what I expect out of them each game, because I know they are capable of it.”
“Today’s game was all right, we can do better and we will. It was an emotional win for us on senior day,” said Senior Kaena Apana.
In the first game, Mercer held a two-point advantage at the 11-9 mark when the Bucs went on a 12-3 run to regain the lead.
The Bears battled back but were unable to overcome, falling 30-22 in game one.
Mercer took a solid lead early in the second game as they powered to a 14-9 start. An 8-2 run put the Bucs within one, 18-17.
Mercer maintained its lead to the 23-20 mark when a ball-handling error by the Bucs sent the Bears on a six-point run.
The Bucs gathered two more points before they gave the Bears their final point and a 30-22 win.
Through the third game, the teams battled evenly through the first part, seeing a tie score at the 9-9 mark.
The Bucs battled to get within one at the 18-17 but were unable to collect game three.
Mercer won 30-23. In the fourth game the Bears trailed by six but started a 7-0 run to give Mercer the lead.
Devine called a timeout and the Bucs came out to tie the score at 27 each.
The Bears went one up, but ETSU came back with three straight kills to take the win, 30-28.
Mercer started strong in the final game with four unanswered points, but a kill by Callie Kiselish broke the Bears’ run.
With Kaena Apana serving, the Bucs went on a 7-0 run to dominate the game. ETSU held an 8-6 lead when a kill by Desiree Dyck started another seven-point run for the Bucs, handing them a 15-6 win.
“Our seniors held the team together,” said Freshman Desiree Dyck.
Seniors Callie Kiselich and Kaena Apana took the lead on both offense and defense. Kiselich fronted the offense with 20 kills, while Apana directed the defense with 27 digs.
Michelle Mislan contributed with nine kills and Marissa Mortensen with 16 digs.
On offense Freshmen Erin Ryan and Laura Waddell followed the seniors lead as Ryan had 13 kills and Waddell had 18 in the match. Freshman Desiree Dyck had eight kills.
For defense Freshmen Lauren Baufield tallied 18 digs, while Whitney Cogburn, also a freshmen, had 37 assists and seven digs. Sophomore Amanda Youell pulled in 24 assists and offensively provided three kills.
ETSU improved to 19-12 overall and 9-2 in the Atlantic Sun Conference play.
“Our focus now is the tournament. We are getting over another obstacle, since we are in the same position as last year,” said Apana.
“Last year we failed our seniors, but this year we aren’t going to let them fail us. We’re going to put the team on our shoulders and run,” said Apana.
ETSU heads to Macon, Georgia for the Atlantic Sun Championships on Nov. 15-17.

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