DALLAS, PA – The Wilkes University women's volleyball team closed out Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom (MAC Freedom) play at local rival Misericordia University Wednesday evening, falling 3-0 (26-24, 25-15, 25-20) to the Cougars.

With the loss Wilkes fell to 17-11 overall and to 1-6 in the MAC Freedom. Misericordia improved to 23-9 overall and to 5-2 in the league.

The Colonels used a 6-1 run to take a 10-6 lead in the opening set of the night. During the run, Sierra Smith (Syracuse, NY/West Genesee) recorded three kills and Michele Natale (Kinnelon, NJ/Kinnelon) had a solo block. A kill by Jamey Mikovich (Nesquehoning, PA/Panther Valley) extended the Wilkes lead to six points at 16-10. The junior then reeled off two kills and a service ace to push the lead back to six at 21-15. The Cougars found their stride though and scored 11 of the next 14 points to jump ahead 1-0 with a 26-24 victory.

Wilkes fell behind by as many as five points early in the second set but a Smith kill brought the visitors back to within two points at 11-9. Another successful attack by Smith kept things close at 13-10 but then Misericordia scored the next nine points to take control. The Cougars ended up finishing off the second set at 25-15 to take a 2-0 lead in the match.

Alex Ferrier (Cressona, PA/Blue Mountain) and Christie Challenger (Schuylkill Haven, PA/Blue Mountain) got the third set off to a fast start for Wilkes with two of the first three points and the two sides were tied at nine before the Cougars scored the next six points. The Colonels struggled to close the gap until reeling off three-straight points on back-to-back-to-back kills by Ferrier, Mikovich and Challenger to make the score 23-19. Misericordia was able to stop the Wilkes comeback effort however, winning 25-20 for the 3-0 sweep.

Mikovich led the offense with 10 kills while Smith had six and Challenger and Ferrier each added five. Karlye Huffman (Sugar Run, PA/Wyalusing) finished with 17 assists.

Defensively Juliet Betke (Poplar Grove, IL/Belvidere North) had match-high 10 digs and Julie Murphy (Mountaintop, PA/Crestwood) added five.

Wilkes closes out the regular season Saturday with a tri-match against Marywood University and Rutgers-Camden at the Marts Center. The non-conference action gets started at 10:00 a.m. when the Colonels face Marywood. Prior to the day's final match against Rutgers-Camden at approximately 2:00 p.m. Wilkes will recognize its lone senior Shayna Fehrle (Philadelphia, PA/St. Hubert) with a Senior Day celebration.