North Andover, Mass. - The Adelphi University volleyball team traveled to North Andover, Massachusetts on Saturday, November 8 to close out the regular season against Northeast-10 opponent Merrimack College. Despite having four players post 14 kills or more, the Brown and Gold dropped a five set thriller to Merrimack, 3-2 (17-25, 25-13, 25-23, 21-25, 11-15). With the loss the Panthers finish up the regular season 13-14 overall and 10-4 in the conference, while the Warriors sit at 17-7 and 9-5.

Adelphi played a strong first set, posting 14 kills, but the hosts countered with 18 kills and just one error in a 25-17 victory. However the Panthers tied up the contest at one game apiece with a nearly spotless second frame, registering 15 kills against no errors and posting a .682 attack percentage in a 25-13 win. 

The third game also went Adelphi's way, as the Panthers took advantage of five Warrior miscues in a very closet 25-23 win. However, the momentum started to swing Merrimack's way in the fourth game, as the hosts picked up a 25-21 win behind 16 kills, while Adelphi collected just 10. The fifth game was very tight in the early going, with eight ties in the first 22 points, including a deadlock at 11 on a Mandy Stanislovaitis kill. Unfortunately, that was as close as the Brown and Gold would get to a win in the final frame, as Merrimack reeled off the final four points of the game to take a 15-11 win.

Haley Blunt led four players in double figures with a team-high 15 kills, while Kaitlyn DeStefano, Shelby Stoner and Stanislovaitis picked up 14 each. Sierra Crook, Blunt and Ajsha Mekulovic paced the defense with 14, 12 and 10 digs respectively and Alayna Jackson and Megan Manierski split time at setter, racking up 31 and 25 set assists. 

Adelphi will return to action on Tuesday, November 11 when they welcome #5 Saint Rose to Garden City, New York for a Northeast-10 Tournament Championship Quarterfinal game at 7:00 pm.