In case you thought we had heard the last from Mercy volleyball, their season is only just beginning. The Mavs played their way into the NCAA tournament for the first time in 18 years despite dropping their semi final matchup to Molloy. Lessons were learned, and now the team has bigger fish to fry.

Welcome to The Roundup.

Women’s basketball is still undefeated on the season after taking two wins with them this week, as the men’s team is continuously improving by game by game. There is much to be excited about around here as we round out the month of November.

Dewaal records three double doubles, named to ECC Honor Roll

The nose bleed hasn’t quite stopped yet. Men’s basketball is still searching for their first win of the season after a consecutive disappointing week, losing games to Southern Connecticut State, Goldey-Beacom, and Post.

A slight concern through the first few games on the schedule hasn’t necessarily been the losses, but rather the way they’re losing. The Mavs have been beaten by an average of 26 points in each game this season. Chris Watts was named the full-time head coach of the program back in March and it’s fair to say learning on the fly hasn’t been easy out of the gate.

In six games thus far, Watts has rolled out four different starting lineups, attempting to create a spark with different players working together. Jayden Dewaal, Alex May, and Asa Kone have started each game while Braelon Joe and Sean Conroy have started three apiece.

Dewaal, the senior from Toronto, has been a lone bright spot for the team. The center was tabbed to the ECC Honor Roll after a tremendous week of play. Dewaal averaged 21.5 points and 12.5 rebounds per game this week including a career-high 32 points against Felician. If the Mavericks are going to find their footing, they’re going to need him to continue playing with this level of confidence.

A home matchup against Bridgeport tomorrow night will be the team’s next opportunity to find the win column.

New Season, New Reason

The 2023 campaign appeared to be on life support after a conference tournament loss to Molloy on Friday, but little did we know it was only the resurgence.

Mercy was selected to be the seventh seed in this year’s NCAA tournament after having their best regular season in nearly two decades, reviving this squad who will now get to continue playing for a national title.

It’s not the swagger the team wanted heading into their first national playoff appearance, but this might bring out an inspired effort instead. Mercy’s tomorrow wasn’t guaranteed, and now a team who looked elimination in the face may have a whole new meaning behind their play.

If the Mavericks bring that fearless mindset to the big stage, they can be a team that’s awfully difficult to face.

There are still things to take away from the loss to the Lions, though.

Larissa Schneid was game-planned well against in the match. Molloy was ready for the conference Player of the Year and did a sound job at limiting the hitter from taking the game over. Schneid still finished the night with an impressive 16 kills, but they certainly made the senior work for all of them.

The team will need continued efforts from their other frontcourt players to help take some of the load off the star and keep New Haven guessing. Julia Pomerleau and Anyelainy Vizcaino can be key in this game if the Chargers overcompensate for Schneid.

Mercy will travel to Adelphi University to take on the No. 2 seed Chargers next Thursday.

Women’s hoops are off to best start in nearly 50 years

There’s no other way to put it. Women’s basketball is young, talented, and straight-up fun to watch.

It’s been a while since we’ve seen this level of play from the team. Mercy improved to 4-0 this week for the first time since 1975 after resilient wins over Bloomfield and Adelphi, making their way up to as high as seventh in the East Region rankings this week.

The ranking is the highest in program history.

Mercy defeated Bloomfield in a come-from-behind thriller on Wednesday, 51-48. The Mavs found themselves down by a deficit as large as 14 points in the first half, but came storming back behind a 21 point performance from Angelina Barrera.

Barrera was excellent in this one, sealing the win with a layup in the final minute. The sophomore is the second leading scorer on the team currently, averaging 9 points a game after seeing an uptick in playing time this year.

The road trip continued to Adelphi for another non-conference matchup on Saturday. Mercy won another nail biter, 68-66, after being down five points with a minute to play. Katie Wall led the way with 24 points but it was Kayla Halvorsen who played the hero.

The junior scored 12 points including the game-winning basket with 18 seconds to go in the game to keep Mercy perfect on the season. Halvorsen is another member of last year’s team who has stepped up nicely so far in an increased role and should continue to see valuable minutes down the stretch.

Next up for this squad is a battle with Bridgeport tomorrow evening, and then a bus ride down to Delaware to face Goldey-Beacom on Sunday afternoon.

Can the Mavs stay hot? We will find out shortly.