NASHUA, N.H. – The Rivier women's volleyball team prevailed in a five-set Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) affair with Emmanuel (Mass.) on Wednesday night at the Muldoon Center.
The Raiders improved to 10-7 (5-1 GNAC) while the visiting Saints dropped to 11-5 (4-2 GNAC). Rivier advanced to 21-7 in the all-time series with 14 of those victories coming on home court.
The Saints took the first set, 25-18, as the Raiders offense was stifled, producing a -.094 hitting percentage in the opening game. Emmanuel's Isabella Marquez notched 11 kills at a .500 clip to boost her team to an early match lead.
Rivier led for most of the second set, with the Saints briefly tying things up at 11-11. From there, a Brynne Roche kill sparked a 4-0 swing for the Raiders which forced Emmanuel to call a timeout. Despite a late scare from the Saints, Rivier finished the set on a 6-1 run to seal a 25-19 victory, tying the match at 1-1. Roche hit .500 in the frame with four kills as fellow senior Ryan Hicks produced 11 assists. Sophomore libero Hannah Raab also registered seven digs.
The third set proved to be highly-contested with 12 tie scores and six lead changes as Emmanuel took a 2-1 lead and forced the Raiders to the brink of elimination. After Rivier led 22-20, the Saints rallied to register the next five points to take the advantage into the fourth set.
Rivier notched five of its 13 service aces in the fourth to help stave off the Saints and send the match to a fifth and final game with a 25-20 win. Junior Ali Rivera and sophomore Sam Driend each notched two apiece while Hicks added one of her own.
The fifth set was back-and-forth from start to finish, however, Rivier was able to close things out after leading 14-12 as Rivera notched a cross-court kill on a feed from senior middle Lily Sills to seal a 15-13 win for the squad's fifth conference victory of the campaign. Sills and Rivera each notched three kills in the fifth.
Sills finished with 12 kills at a .240 clip with two solo blocks and four block assists. Raab was also a major player on defense, finishing with 17 digs. Hicks totaled 32 assists as the Raiders hit .220 in the match.
Marquez finished the match with a career-high 34 kills and 35.5 points responsible for. Dating back to 2001, Marquez's kills and points responsible are the most in a single match of any kind in the program. First-year Letitia Bossou added 10 kills and six total blocks. Sophomore Kason Huynh added 45 assists and 10 digs.
Rivier returns to home court for a non-conference tri-match on Saturday, Oct. 12 against Babson (11:00 a.m.) and Nichols (3:00 p.m.). The Raiders will celebrate its senior class with Senior Day festivities prior to their matchup against the Bison. The Saints host Norwich on Tuesday, Oct. 15 at 7:00 p.m. in conference play.
