The Mavericks opened Saturday hoping to build on their confidence from Friday night's victory against University of Mary. They hosted their third game of the Holiday Inn Crossroads Classic inside Brownson Arena, this time playing the Hawks of Saint Anselm University. The Mavs took care of business fast with a 3-0 sweep of the Hawks.
“The feeling of our home opening loss has helped us play the way we have last two games,” Captain Megan Rush said. “We knew that we weren't playing our best Maverick ball then. We have the talent. We just have to figure that out mentally and I think we did that last night and today.”
After a closely contested game throughout, the Mavs were able to pull away at the end and win the first game 25-22. Senior Antoinette McCormick and freshman Melissa Hess led the attack with four kills each. Hess also added three digs. Junior Kelly Regimbal and sophomore Rebecca Sellers added three kills apiece. Jordyn Moody had all the team's assists with 14.
Game two was much easier for the Mavs as they were able to pull ahead early and win 25-15. Hess had four more kills and two digs in the game. Moody had 10 more assists and three digs. The ladies took advantage of the many Hawks mistakes.
“We came out slow in the first game because we expected it to be like how it was last night,” Rush said. “We realized that we had to put in that effort and hard work in order to win again.”
After a slow start to the third and final game, the Mavs were able to finally pull away and win the third game 25-19 and sweep the Hawks 3-0. McCormick finished with a team lead 11 kills. Rush had eight digs for the Mavs as Hess, Sellers and Moody each had 7. Moody also finished with a game high 39 assists.
“I think we have brought it together as a team now,” Rush said. “Everyone on the team has bonded out there, including those on the bench. We have all learned that we all contribute in a way, and it took us a while to learn that.”
With the win, the Mavs improved to 3-4 overall on the young season. The Mavs look to not only win three out of four games in the Classic, but to even their overall record at 4-4 with a win tonight against the Academy of Art. That game will start at 6 p.m. in Brownson Arena.
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