As the season winds down for most teams, the Mavs are just getting started here. Finishing the regular season with a final record of 15-9, coming off a monstrous win this past Saturday, The Mercy University Women’s Volleyball team is hungry for the NCAA tournament, and is willing to eat whatever is thrown their way.
The stage is set. the Mavericks are heading up to Daemen for the ECC tournament, where they will be playing yet again, rival Queens College. The stage is much bigger now for them, throughout the regular season, it appears the Mavericks have the Knights’ number, defeating them in 4 sets on Oct. 19 (away), then most recently coming out on top, again in four sets, this time, on our home court.
Before we get running and gunning, let me take you back to this past Saturday in Dobbs Ferry, where these two familiar faces, went head-to-head for huge postseason chances, on the Mavericks’ Senior Day, they knew there was food left on the table here.
Packed Crowd, high emotions, blow for blow these two teams went. We kicked off the first set with Queens stealing one early, 25-19. The Mavericks who paved the way for victory in the second set included junior star Gabriela Bieniek, sophmore Janneliz Rodriguez Fuentes, and graduate student Julia Pomerleau. As we move onto match 3, all knotted up and 1 apiece. The Mavericks kicked off this set up 8-4, as the set progressed, they held a comfortable lead of 14-7, we knew the Knights were going to hold their own closing in at 18-14, but the Mavericks were too hot for them to handle as they took set 3, with a score of 25-19. Set 4 is where the true identity of the Mavericks was revealed, knowing what was at stake not only for their seniors, but for the team’s future as well. Queens came out firing on all cylinders, jumping out 8-3 before the Mavs knew what hit them, they continued to have success where the visitors held the lead 19-14, the hometown Mavs rallied off 5 quick points to tie it up at 19-19, with their backs against the wall, down 24-23 in the 4th set, the Mavericks landed 3 straight points, which was completed with a Julia Pomerleau kill, gave them their biggest victory yet, solidifying a spot in the ECC tournament, and even better gives them a much greater chance at the big dance.
The Mavericks will have 6 days of rest before their biggest match yet, they seem to know a lot of Queens methods and tendencies, which goes the same the other way as well. Queens comes in at the #2 seed as our Mavericks got handed the #3 seed, pretty even overall, just going to come down to one thing, who is willing to put it all on the line?
The seniors on this team have made their mark through their careers here for the Mavs, to name them Captains Aitza Cruz and Sydney Whitfield, senior Anyelainy Vizcaino, and last but not least Julia Pomerleau. This is the time of the season when everyone is aware of what is at stake, and you have to lean on experience, the players who have got you to where you are now. The additional pieces coach Todorovic added during the off-season have been nothing short of exceptional,
The Mavericks have been to the conference tournament now 5 years straight, do they have what it takes to get them over the hump, and back into the NCAA tournament? we will see on Friday as they travel up north to Daemen University as stated earlier, who is hosting this year’s tournament as the 1 seed.
As teams start falling apart, heading home and stakes keep getting bigger, the Mavericks may bend, but they certainly don’t break.
