Heart. Resilient. Energy, Is the best way to describe the Mercy University Womens Volleyball team. This team truly relies on one another and has so many weapons, they should be on everyone’s radars as in the conference.

The Mavericks have a record of 8-5, with two back-to-back wins. This past Saturday, the Mavericks swarmed all over St. Thomas Aquinas, 3-1, for a big win. Last night, they had a huge in-conference game against Molloy University – the hype and the energy was through the roof on both ends. The first set went in favor of the Lions, 25-23. The Mavericks knew what was at stake here and rattled off an incredible three sets in a row, in a pretty dominating fashion: 25-7, 28-26, 25-19.

The third set of the match is what really caught a lot of eyes. Wednesday night, great set overall for both teams, constantly back and forth, had the entire gym on its feet. The Mavs showed why they are the real deal, from there it was smooth sailing. The Mavericks were led by Freshman Grace Dilena who had 14 kills, as well as graduate student Julianna Pomerleau who racked up 14 as well. Junior Samantha Cooney was the backbone of this team tonight, who had a season-high nine digs, and did everything in her power to take down the Lions.

 One player has really caught the fans’ eyes throughout the season is sophomore Adriana Rivera Rodriguez who is originally from Humacao, Puerto Rico.  She last attended American International College before transferring to Mercy. Her presence on the court every set of every game is leading this team in the right direction. Throughout the 13 matches played this year, she has 472 assists, averaging just over 36 assists a game (video game numbers some would say). She has come in and completely made herself the floor general for the Mavs. She just might be the missing piece the Mavericks were looking for to make another run in the big dance.

As the team just surpassed the halfway mark of the season, the Mavericks have 11 games left, seven being some major conference games.