Fayette, Mo. – The Central Methodist University volleyball team; whom are currently receiving votes in the latest NAIA Coaches' Top 25 Poll, defeated Mount Mercy University on Saturday evening by a final of 3-1 in a Heart of America Athletic Conference Volleyball Postseason quarterfinals match. Final scores were: 25-19, 16-25, 25-19, and 25-15.
With the victory, Central Methodist improves to 36-5 overall, while Mount Mercy finishes the season with a record of 21-11.
The #3 seed Eagles had their way with the #6 seed Mount Mercy Mustangs on Saturday evening. When these two squads met back on October 8th, the match went all five sets. Central was coming off of two matches the day before and had to travel to face the Mustangs. This time CMU got the Mustangs inside of a loud and raucous Puckett Field House. Central came out on the attack and held off the Mustangs for a first set victory of 25-19.
Mount Mercy responded in the second set. The Mustangs hit .306 in the second set, and held CMU to a .054 hitting percentage; their worst of the evening. Mount Mercy evened the match at 1-1, following a 25-16 second set victory.
CMU put it in another gear for the third and fourth sets, rumbling to 25-19 and 25-15 victories. Central outhit the Mustangs .366 to .128 in the third set, and .300 to -.048 in the fourth set. Overall, CMU finished with 10 more kills than the Mustangs, and nine less attack errors. The Eagles also outhit the Mustangs in the match .211 to .091.
Darcy Latham (JR/Bismark, Mo.) led CMU with 12 kills, while Destiny Vaden (FR/Lee's Summit, Mo.) stepped up with 10 kills and a kill percentage of .526 off the bench for the Eagles. Caitlin Petty (SO/Leopold, Mo.) led Central with 42 assists, and Erin Dodd (SR/Pittsburg, Ill.) had a team high 34 digs in the victory.
The Eagles will return to action on Wednesday, when they to Olathe, Kansas for a Heart of America Athletic Conference semifinals match against 14th ranked MidAmerica Nazarene University at 7pm.
For more information about Central Methodist University athletics, visit http://www.cmueagles.com. Follow CMU athletics on Facebook at www.facebook.com/cmathletics and on Twitter twitter.com/cmueagles.
