WATERBURY, Conn. -- The streak lives on for Post University Women's Volleyball to start the 2025 campaign as the Eagles kicked off the home side of their schedule in the Drubner Center on Thursday evening against Mercy University, holding off a rally from the Mavericks after going up two sets to none, winning in five sets for the third consecutive match, 3-2. The Eagles are now a historic 5-0, holding a perfect 3-0 record in five-set matches, and senior libero Alyssa Groves is on the verge of her own history after notching 30 digs in the win to put herself only seven away from 2,000 career digs. 

THE BASICS

Post University 3, Mercy University 2

Post University (5-0)

Mercy University (2-1)

HOW IT HAPPENED
The attack for Post peaked in the first two sets en route to that 2-0 lead as a .346 attack percentage in set one followed by a .293 in set two, which featured 16 kills on 41 attempts, led the way for the Eagles, who were on the verge of victory at that point in the match. The Mavericks would trail 13-9 in set three before a blistering 7-0 run, led by three kills from sophomore outside hitter Grace Dilena, turned the set back in favor of the visitors briefly as a responding 5-0 run off two kills from freshman outside hitter Elyana Ortiz and two errors from Mercy helped Post regain a two-point lead, 18-16. 

At match point three times at 24-23, 25-24, and 26-25, kills from Dilena helped Mercy even with Post before capitalizing on an attack error from junior outside hitter Neeyah Sahid-Stevenson and using a kill from senior outside hitter Gabriela Bieniek to force a fourth set, 28-26. Once again in the driver's seat ahead 22-17 in set four, the Mavericks used an 8-0 run fueled by four errors from the Eagles to force a decisive fifth set, 25-22. For Post, that particular set was mired by a game-high eight errors and an attack percentage of -.0.021 with only seven kills along the way. 

Hoping to avoid a collapse in their home opener, a trio of errors to open set five gave Post an early 3-0 advantage, which was met by a responding 4-0 run by Mercy via the duo of Dilena and Bieniek. Neither side would let the other take more than a one-point lead until they were knotted up at nine, and the final push by Post via a 5-0 run courtesy of five errors from the Mavericks gave the Eagles the control they needed to take the final set with a kill from Neeyah Shahid-Stevenson. That final set saw Mercy commit a total of eight errors, mirroring the fourth set for the Eagles, and only having seven kills, leading to a -0.029 attack percentage. 

Graduate outside hitter Kristina Peric dominated once again for the Eagles with 23 kills, not to be outdone by a 21-kill performance from Dilena, who attacked at a .203 clip, or Bieniek's 17 kills for the Mavericks in the loss. Peric also tacked on 24 digs, just six less than Groves, who led the team with 30, on an evening where Post had 95 digs as a team to 97 digs for Mercy. Senior libero Samantha Cooney led the visitors with 25 digs, and Dilena accounted for 18 digs as well. 

Graduate setter Alice DiFrancesco set the tone across the board for Post, recording 43 of the 50 assists that the Eagles had as well as 14 digs and four service aces. DiFrancesco now has 184 assists on the season, currently putting her on the potential pace to break the all-time single-season mark set by Courtney McGinnis in 2004 with 1,575 assists. McGinnis ranks second in program history for career assists with 4,572, behind only Brianna Root with 4,711 assists from 2015-18. 

 BY THE NUMBERS

• For the fourth time in five matches this season, Kristina Peric recorded 20-plus kills, finishing with 23 kills on a season-high 72 attempts with only 11 errors
• Alyssa Groves recorded 30 digs in tonight's contest, putting her seven away from 2,000 career digs as she now sits at 1,993 digs 
• Winning the first set tonight, this was the first time this season that Post University has won the opening set, dropping it in each of the first four matches 
• Starting the season 5-0, this is the best start Post University has had in program history, with the previous best being 2-0 in 2002 and 2004 -- The Eagles have won five of their last six matches against Mercy University in the all-time series

WHO'S NEXT
Getting right back on the court tomorrow, Post University will look to move to 6-0 for the first time in program history as they take on Franklin Pierce University at 6:00 PM in the Drubner Center before getting a five-day break ahead of their first conference match against Caldwell University next Wednesday on the road.