College Volleyball
Saint Peter's College 3, Rider University 2
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Match
LAWRENCEVILLE?Heart break for the Phillies, heart break for the Broncs. On a day that saw the Philadelphia Phillies drop their second in a row in a best of five baseball series, the Broncs dropped three of five in their match with Saint Peter's Thursday night. “Both teams competed for five games,” said head coach Emily Ahlquist. “Saint Peter's has had a ton of matches that have gone to the limit because they are very scrappy and we matched them point for point. Both teams played well enough to win.”
The Peahens won the fifth and deciding game by two, winning the overall match 24-30, 30-28, 30-25, 27-30, 15-13 in a night that saw 31 ties and 11 lead changes in the two plus hour match up.
For Rider (1-15, 0-7 MAAC), freshman Amanda Piccolini (St. Clairsville, Ohio/St. Clairsville) just missed a ?triple-double' with 56 assists, 13 digs and seven kills.
“We played well,” said Piccolini. “We played well enough to win so it is a little frustrating because we are better than our record. We just have to keep working hard.”
Piccolini had a .227 hitting percentage for the night.
“Amanda was pretty steady,” said Ahlquist. “She is learning to be a leader on the floor and is doing a great job. She is making nice decisions in her setting.”
“The passing was great tonight,” Piccolini said. “I just tried and focused on putting the ball where my hitters need it to be. The fans were great tonight and we fed off their energy and they really got into the match. It was nice playing at home in a match like this and using the fans to our advantage.”
Also for the Broncs, junior Lacey Johnson (Aurora, Colo./Grandview) had a ?double-double' with 27 digs and 12 kills and freshman Katelyn Thompson (Tucson, Ariz./Catalina Foothills) also had a ?double-double' with 31 digs and 15 kills.
“It was a great match,” Ahlquist added. “Both teams fought. It was just a couple of little mental errors that decided the match. We fought to the end. I am proud of their effort. It was a ?neck and neck' match.”
Sophomore Brittany Hayes (Mitchelleville, Md./Elizabeth Seton) had 19 kills for Rider with sophomore Amy Jeary (Depew, N.Y./St. Mary's) adding 38 digs.
“Tonight was a turning point with their energy level,” Ahlquist added. “They were ready to go and were pumped up for the conference match. The crowd was into it and if you could ever have a loss be fun, this was it. Of course we want to win but we put the best effort out there and that's all you can ask for from your players.”
Rider came out strong to open the match winning game one 30-24 on the strength of 12 digs from Jeary. Saint Peter's (6-15, 3-5 MAAC) bounced back winning the second game, that saw 12 ties and five lead changes, by two 30-28.
The Peahens jumped out to an early lead and won the third game 30-25 before Rider bounced back for a 30-27 win to force the deciding fifth game. Piccolini had 17 assists with Johnson adding nine kills in the fourth game.
In the deciding game to 15, Rider jumped out to an 8-3 lead before Saint Peter's battled back with a 6-1 run, tying the game at nine, one of four ties in the final game. With the score tied at 13, the Peahens used two kills from Monique Flores to finish the match. Flores led the Peahens with 14 kills with five Saint Peter's players finishing with double-digits in digs, led by 29 from Yomi Angulo.
The Broncs have lost nine straight and travel to New Rochelle, New York for a MAAC match at Iona on Saturday.
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