SALISBURY, MD. – After a tough, three set loss to Scranton, the William Peace volleyball team bounced back to sweep the Royals of Eastern Mennonite salvaging a split on the opening day of Salisbury's Sea Gull Classic. The win pushes their record to 2-4.
Earlier in the day against Scranton, WPU fell 25-15 in the first set after a sluggish start. They picked it up a bit in the second and third sets but came up short 25-20 and 25-23, respectively.
Tempestt Frazier led the team with six kills and a hitting percentage of .333 to go along with three block solos and a block assist. Megan Mansfield and Laura Bland also had six kills each. Baylee Maughon had 22 assists while Carson Williams and Maddie Irvin combined for 22 digs defensively.
In their second match against Eastern Mennonite, the Pacers committed several errors to fall behind early in the first set, but they were able to regain their composure and break the Royal's momentum following a timeout called by head coach Kevin Daniels. Down 13-10, WPU went on a 6-0 run, which propelled them to the eventual first set win, 26-24.
Merica Ivey connected for three of her four first set kills during the 6-0 run, and Mansfield took over from there totaling seven kills at an unheard of .875 clip. Maughon racked up 15 assists in the opening set.
WPU jumped out to a 13-7 lead in the second set, but the Royals won six of the next eight points making it a 15-13 game. The Pacers stole the momentum once again though and cruised to a relatively easy 25-18 win in set number two.
The Pacers hit .429 as a team in the second set led by Mansfield's five kills. Ivey also had four more kills of her own, while Maughon tallied 16 more assists.
Eastern Mennonite didn't give WPU much of a challenge in the third. The Pacers took a 16-6 lead thanks to a 9-2 spurt and won running away, 25-16.
Mansfield ended the match with 13 kills at a .522 clip, and Bland also reached double-digit kills with 10. Ivey and Frazier each contributed nine kills and three total blocks a piece, while Maughon finished with 40 assists. Williams paced the way defensively with 15 digs. Irvin had nine digs and two service aces.
The WPU volleyball team will be back in action tomorrow starting with a noon matchup against host Salisbury College. They will close out the weekend against Virginia Wesleyan at 2:00 p.m.
LIVE STATS/VIDEO will be available for the Pacer's match against Salisbury.
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