Sergio Guerra, Photographer/Sports Editor

UNCG Volleyball had a busy weekend at home where they were faced with the challenging visits of Mercer and Samford. Two teams with an impressive SoCon record with no signs of wanting to lose momentum. 

The first challenge came on Oct. 18, when the Spartans had to take down Mercer, a team who had only suffered one defeat going into this game. Our UNCG Spartans were desperate to double that tally, but the feat proved too much. Mercer took the first two sets of the match before UNCG was able to pull themselves back with a third-set win. Unfortunately, Mercer was able to finish the job in the fourth set with a tight 25-21 scoreline. 

Our Spartans had the opportunity to bounce back the very next day with a face-off against Samford. The visitors came into this match with an impressive record of 6-1 in SoCon play. Nonetheless, our Spartans were able to take their chance at redemption to secure an impressive win against Samford and improve our record to 2-6 in SoCon play.  

The match started off with UNCG claiming the first set in dramatic fashion with a score of 30-28. The Spartans would not hang on to this lead as they fell to the Bulldogs in the second set. UNCG wouldn’t back down, though, and won the next two sets, with the last set being a dramatic 26-24, to secure a victory in front of the electric home crowd.  

Allie Sweet was a standout performer in the game against Samford, amassing 19 kills. Izora Gragg led the assists with 42. Cece Fitz was another great player for us, with 4 total blocks. 

UNCG Volleyball will be back in action on Thursday away at Furman. The next home game will be on Oct. 26 against ETSU!