College Volleyball
Siena College 3, Rider University 1
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Match
LOUDONVILLE, N.Y.?The Broncs lost a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference match at Siena on Friday night. “It was spirited effort and we proved that we can play with anyone,” said head coach Emily Ahlquist.
The first-place Saints (16-3, 11-0 MAAC) defeated the Broncs in four games 30-19, 30-32, 30-20, 30-28.
For Rider (1-19, 0-11 MAAC), freshman Elyse Grassmuck(Seguin, Texas/La Vernia) had 11 digs and three service aces as she played the libero position for the first time in her career.
“The match went well after the first game due to our high energy,” said Grassmuck. “Changing positions and playing libero for the first time in my life was really interesting. I was nervous but the position has grown on me and I think that I like it. I am willing to do anything to help the team and tonight it was from the libero spot. I was initially stunned with the position change and made some early mistakes but I told myself that I had to get it done and I put my mind to it.”
“We wound up doing an 11 person rotation and we changed the position of some of the players and that seemed to spark us and we worked better as a team,” Ahlquist added. “We had better communication. We easily could have gone five games tonight.”
The fourth and final game saw 20 ties and 11 lead changes with the Saints finally pulling out the two-point win to clinch the match.
Rookie Amanda Piccolini (St. Clairsville, Ohio/St. Clairsville) had 20 assists with sophomore Shannon Bures (Shelton, Conn./Shelton) adding 17 assists.
“We moved Amy [Jeary] to the left back position to give us another strong passer in the back row,” Grassmuck said. “By doing that it seemed to give us a spark.”
Junior Lacey Johnson (Aurora, Colo./Grandview) had seven digs, six kills and three service aces for Rider.
“We came out slow in the first game and we were down something like 20-6,” Ahlquist remembered. “We battled back and made it a game and then it just clicked and we played a stronger game two and were able to win that one by two. We led in game four late but weren't able to pull it out. We were finally able to put the ball away in different ways whether it be via the serve, passing, blocking or attacking. Siena wasn't able to focus on one specific area and I think that's what got us back into the match.”
The Broncs have lost 13 straight and travel to Riverdale, New York for a MAAC match against Manhattan at 2:00pm.
“We're excited about the match on Saturday because of the way we finished the match tonight,” Ahlquist added. “We know that a strong start coupled with the momentum of tonight's strong finish could get us the win against Manhattan.”
-RU-
