Beach volleyball (23-11, 3-3 Sun Belt) competes today in the Sun Belt Conference, and will face off in the first round of the conference championship. The Orange and Black will face off against the University of Louisiana-Monroe (13-20, 2-4 Sun Belt) in Foley, Ala., coming in as the No. 4 seed, while the Warhawks are No. 5. In their only matchup of the season, the Bears beat the Louisiana-Monroe, 3-2, on March 29.
Mercer closed out the regular season last Wednesday, April 16, with two sweeps of crosstown rival Wesleyan College (1-5-1) at home, winning 5-0 and 5-0. The win versus the Wolves caps off the best regular season and only the third winning season in program history. The team finished out the season winning seven of its last nine games, sparked by the duo of Reese Hood ‘25 and Grace Rathburn ‘28, who together are on a six-game win streak.
The season started off successfully for the university’s newest sport, going on a three-game winning streak after dropping the season opener to No. 20 Stetson University at the Stetson Spring Fling. The team’s next tournament, the University of North Florida Duuuval Duals, started out similarly, with the team losing the opening match, this time to No. 19 North Florida, before winning the next three matchups in easy fashion, including against their first conference opponent, the University of Southern Mississippi. The win kicked off a seven-game unbeaten streak for the team, the longest in program history, before falling at the hands of No. 8 Long Beach State University and No. 2 Loyola Marymount University.
The bounce back pattern continued at home as the Bears won three-straight matches after splitting a couple of matches, including dropping two games to the University of North Carolina-Wilmington. The team’s home matches, played at Bear Beach, have been a strong point this season, with the team going 6-2 in games as the home team. Outside of Macon, however, Mercer struggled to find points and went 1-5 in away matches.
After going 2-2 at the Sun Belt Mid-Year weekend, the Bears proceeded to go 5-3 over the next eight matches before losing to No. 17 North Florida in Jacksonville, Fla.
Prior to the start of the tournament, Liv Diaz '27, Jordan Paddock '25, Kathryn Corbett '25 and Nicole O'Mara '25 were each named to the All-Sun Belt Conference Second Team, according to Mercer Athletics.
If Mercer pull out a victory against the Warhawks, they will be in line to face No. 1 Coastal Carolina University, who are undefeated in the Sun Belt this season.
Jacob Hossler '28 is an English and Law and Public Policy double major at Mercer University. While not serving as the Sports Editor at The Cluster, he enjoys running, writing and photography.
