Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 The Misericordia University volleyball team picked up two victories in a tri-match with Alvernia and New Jersey City University on Saturday afternoon in the Anderson Center.
 
The Cougars claimed a 3-2 victory over Alvernia in the first match of the day and then a 3-1 victory in the finale against NJCU.
 
In the win over Alvernia, MU picked up a 25-18 victory in the first set, but then dropped the next two to fall to a 2-1 deficit in the best of five series. The Cougars won the next two sets by scores of 25-10 and 15-11 to win the match.
 
Shelby Brochetti led the Cougars with 13 kills and two aces while Meghan Stack had nine kills and three digs. Megan Collins and Paige Shaughnessy each had seven kills while Kellyn Swanson added six kills and Nicole Tagerty had 41 assists in the victory over Alvernia.
 
The Cougars controlled much of the pace in the first set and even came back to take a 21-20 lead in the second set, following a vicious kill from Swanson. However, the Cougars couldn't complete the comeback victory, falling 25-21. Alvernia then controlled the momentum in the third set to claim a 25-21 victory. 
 
MU came out on a mission in the fourth set, jumping out to a 12-2 lead on multiple kills from Brochetti and Swanson. Tagerty then joined the hitting parade with a big kill, which extended their lead to 18-8 and prompted an Alvernia timeout.
 
Shaughnessy then capped the Cougars rally with a floor-shattering kill to force a fifth set.
 
MU jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead on two Crusader errors and a Brochetti kill. The Cougars then took advantage of a few more Crusader hitting errors and Shaughnessy added another kill to make it 9-5.
 
Alvernia fought back, coming within one at 12-11 after an MU attack error. Stack and Gagliardi then got the Cougars back on track with back-to-back kills and a Crusader attack error gave MU the 15-11 win in the final set.
 
The Cougars dominated their first twos set against NJCU, capturing a 25-13 victory in the first set and a 25-12 victory in the second set. The Gothic Knights then took the third set 25-18, but the Cougars returned to dominance in the fourth set, winning 25-13.
 
Stack again led the Cougars with eight kills while Swanson and Shaughnessy added six kills each. Brochetti had a team-high 10 digs and Tagerty had 21 assists in the victory over NJCU.
 
With the wins over Alvernia and NJCU, MU improves to 14-13.
 
The Cougars return to Freedom Conference action Wednesday night at 7:00 at King's College.