GREENSBORO, N.C. – Faced with a 2-0 deficit at intermission Saturday night, the No. 3 seed and host UNCG volleyball team dug down and put together a stirring rally to eliminate sixth-seeded Mercer in five sets (25-27, 20-25, 25-17, 25-15, 15-12) in the last quarterfinal of the Southern Conference Volleyball Championship inside Fleming Gymnasium.

The Spartans (20-10) advance to host the No. 2 seed Samford, which defeated No. 7 seed Chattanooga 3-2, in Sunday's second semifinal at 4:30 p.m. while the Bears' (11-20) season comes to an end. The 20 wins are the most for UNCG since 2010 while the semifinal appearance is also the first for the program since that year.

The Spartans hit .120 in the deciding frame and limited Mercer to .069 efficiency. Overall, UNCG ended the match at .211 (71k/30e/194ta) while the Bears hit .158 (55k/26e/184ta). The Blue and Gold also recorded more assists (68-52), aces (4-3) and digs (89-81), but Mercer had the better of the blocking 12.0-7.0.

UNCG put four players in double figures offensively with sophomore outside hitter Jessica Brezwyn leading the way via 16 kills. Senior middle hitter Vicky Harley, redshirt junior middle hitter Julia Westerbur and senior middle hitter Kelsey Sidney followed with 14, 13 and 11 respectively. Brezwyn tallied a double-double thanks to a 13-dig performance while junior libero Katherine Santiago led the way defensively with 23 digs. Sophomore setter Sara Hohman tied her career high in assists with 61 and freshman Anna Romaniszyn racked up 12 digs in the back row.

UNCG came out strong early and built a 17-10 lead in set one. Mercer began to chip away, though, and eventually knotted the set at 19-19 before jumping out to a 24-21 lead. The Spartans were able to rally and tie the set at 24 all to force extra points but Mercer would clinch the set three points later by a 27-25 margin.

Set two was close throughout with neither team holding more than a three-point advantage until the final two points of the frame. Mercer took a three-point lead twice at 10-7 and 15-12 but both times UNCG quickly closed the gap. The Bears pulled away with a block to put them up 24-20 before a kill by Caroline Carlton clinched the set.

The third set was controlled by the Spartans from the outset. After a 4-4 tie, UNCG took a 6-5 advantage and did not trail the rest of the set. The Spartans led by as much as seven, the earliest at 17-10 to force a Mercer timeout, and later extended the lead by taking the final three rallies to earn a 25-17 victory and extend the match.

In the fourth set, the two sides battled to a 7-7 tie before UNCG began to seize control again. The Spartans edged in front 13-9 lead to force a Mercer timeout, but the lead would remain at four for much of the stanza before UNCG added to the lead eventually and took the set, 25-15, to tie the match at two sets apiece. The Blue and Gold put down 18 kills as a team in the frame and compiled a .486 hitting percentage.

UNCG raced out to a 6-2 edge to start the fifth set, forcing a Mercer timeout. After the Spartans grabbed the next point, Mercer won the next three to cut the lead to two at 7-5. Later in the set, Mercer put together back-to-back points and evened the frame at 10-10. However, with the score knotted at 11, a Brezwyn kill sparked a match-clinching 4-1 run that was capped by an attacking error to give the Spartans the match.

In the tournament's earlier matches, Wofford knocked off The Citadel 3-1 in the play-in match while Western Carolina swept East Tennessee State and Furman got past Wofford in four sets to set up the first semifinal. The top-seeded Paladins will battle the No. 5 seed Catamounts at 2 p.m. Sunday

Follow the UNCG volleyball team all year long by logging on to www.uncgspartans.com and following the Spartans' official Twitter accounts @UNCGVB and @uncgsports.