Merrimack Volleyball Falls to New Haven in Northeast-10 Quarterfinals

NEW HAVEN, CT – The Merrimack volleyball team saw its season come to an end Tuesday night, falling to the Northeast-10 regular season champion New Haven 3-0 in the Northeast-10 Quarterfinals.

Game scores were 25-18, 25-23, 25-23.

Merrimack concludes its season with a 12-14 record, while New Haven, who improves to 24-2 overall, will host the Northeast-10 Semifinals on Friday at 5 p.m.

Leading the entire first set, the Chargers took a 17-10 lead, overcoming six service errors, while converting four early aces before Merrimack rallied, led by a block from Megan Murray (Rancho Santa Margarita, CA) to cut the lead to 20-17. But behind a .344 hitting percentage and 16 kills to just five for the Warriors, New Haven closed it out behind a kill from Sara Malmlov for the 25-18 victory.

The Warriors led for most of the second taking an 11-5 early lead, but the Chargers evened it at 21 before taking their first lead at 22-21 on a kill from Elizabeth Akinbiyi. Merrimack tied it at 22 and 23 behind kills from Shaunda Forcier (Gonic, NH) and Molly Cindric (Westlake Village, CA), but a Malmlov kill, her 11th of the match, made it 24-23, and a Merrimack attack error handed the second set to the hosts.

In a third set that featured 11 ties, Cindric led the charge offensively with seven kills, while Murray had three kills and a block, but it wasn’t enough as the Chargers claimed the lead at 23-22 on a block and finished it off on a Merrimack block error.

In her final match, Cindric picked up 13 kills and seven digs, while Murray had six kills and two blocks. Elyse Lorenz (Frankfurt, IL) tallied 24 assists, five digs and two blocks, while Forcier totaled six kills. Alyssa Pickert (Tinley Park, IL) led all players with 15 digs.

Malmlov, the NE-10 Player of the Year, picked up 17 kills and 12 digs, while hitting .448. Keidy Candelaria (12 kills) and Akinbiyi (10 kills) each were in double-figures offensively for the Chargers who hit .287 for the match.

The match was the final in the historic careers of seniors Molly Cindric (Westlake Village, CA), Elyse Lorenz (Frankfurt, IL), Alyssa Pickert (Tinley Park, IL), Heidi Wroblicky (Irvine, CA) and Megan Murray (Rancho Santa Margarita, CA). The Class of 2011 led the volleyball program to the first two NCAA Tournaments in program history in 2007 and 2008, reaching the NE-10 Championship match in both seasons. They set a school record for wins in 2009 and won seven in a row to close the 2010 regular season to qualify for the playoffs.

Cindric, the program’s all-time leader in kills for a season and career, graduates as the first All-American and first four-time first-team all-conference selection in school history. The first Warrior to reach 2,000 career digs, Pickert is the first two-time NE-10 Libero of the Year in program history, while Lorenz, a two-time captain, is the school’s leader in assists for a season and career. Wroblicky is the school’s leader in sets played, while Murray, who joined the program as a sophomore, ranks among the best blockers in school history.

 www.merrimackathletics.com