SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Charged by Bella Santoro's season-high 19 kills, the Wofford volleyball team rallied from two sets down to complete a five-set comeback over Mercer (19-25, 24-26, 25-21, 25-18, 15-11) on Homecoming Saturday at Benjamin Johnson Arena.
 
The win makes it four straight for Wofford (15-12, 6-4 SoCon), who improve to 8-2 in the month of October, including a perfect 5-0 at home. Saturday night's victory also marked the second time this season the Terriers have come back from two sets down to win, last doing so against Charleston Southern on September 18.
 
"I'm proud of how we battled back – we were not playing our best volleyball in sets one and two," said head coach Lynze Roos, who set the program's new Division I record for victories by a first-year head coach with her 15th. "We were able to recover and started to challenge a very good Mercer team."
 
The Terriers struggled to hit .136 and .053 in the first two sets, respectively. Mercer (9-13, 4-6 SoCon) hit .342 to cruise through the first and held off a late Wofford run in the second set to take a 2-0 lead.
 
Wofford came out of the locker room a new team. Santoro put down seven kills and freshman Colleen Reilly added six to push the Terriers through the third. The fourth was owned by sophomore Danni Densford, who connected on all seven of her swings to help Wofford hit .452, forcing a fifth set.
 
The Terriers took a 6-2 lead in the tiebreak, but Mercer rallied off five straight to go in front, 7-6. Wofford retook the lead with Santoro serving and the set remained within a point at 12-11.
 
The final three points were grabbed by the Terriers. Sophomore Alex Holland put down the last of her 15 kills to get the ball back on Wofford's side of the net. Santoro and Reilly then combined to block Mercer's Monica Johnson to earn match point and Reilly finished it off with her 16th kill.
 
Santoro's 19 kills came on her 19th birthday. She added 11 digs to earn her 10th double-double. Sophomore setter Molly Mayo also earned her 10th double-double with a match-high 52 assists and career-high 17 digs.
 
"Bella and Molly both came up big," Roos said. "Bella really passed well and it helped tremendously to set up our offense. Molly had been under the weather, so it says a lot about her to push through."
 
Four Terriers finished with double figures in the kill column. Santoro's 19 led the pack, followed by Reilly with 16, Holland with 15 and Densford with 10. Densford came on strong in the final two sets, connecting on her final eight swings to push the Terriers over the hump. She finished the match hitting .208 after entering the fourth set hitting -.187.
 
Wofford's block also helped turn the match around. The Terriers out-blocked Mercer 5-1 through the final two sets and 11-10 on the evening. Reilly was the catalyst. The reigning SoCon Defensive Player of the Week finished with a match-high eight rejections, five of which came in the sets four and five.
 
"Colleen came to work this weekend," Roos added. "She lifted us at all the right moments and showed good composure for a freshman. She took clutch swings."
 
Senior libero Jessica Graham earned a match-high 27 digs to lead a pack of four Terriers to reach double figures. Sophomore transfer Reagan Petty had 11.
 
The Wofford volleyball team hits the road for its next two Southern Conference matches. The Terriers have five days off before making trips to Samford and Chattanooga next Friday and Saturday.
 
Terrier Notes:
- Wofford came back from two sets down to win for the second time this season (Charleston Southern – Sept. 18)
- Lynze Roos broke the program's Division I record for victories by a first-year head coach with her 15th.
- Wofford won its fifth straight home match, its longest home winning streak since 1992.
- The Terriers have guaranteed a winning season at home for the first time since 2009 (6-5).
- Wofford moved into a tie for fourth place in the SoCon standings with ETSU.
- Bella Santoro had a season-high 19 kills. Molly Mayo had a career-high 17 digs. Both lead the team with 10 double-doubles.