College Volleyball
Iona College 3, Rider University 2
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Match
LAWRENCEVILLE?Down two games to none, the Rider volleyball team rallied to force a fifth and deciding game before falling by two points to Iona in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference match on Sunday in Alumni Gym. “Volleyball is a sport with many momentum changes and we had that today,” said head coach Emily Ahlquist. “Games one and two nothing was working right and we switched up the lineup and that gave us a spark.”
The Gaels defeated Rider 30-21, 30-22, 18-30, 29-31, 15-13.
For the Broncs, junior Lacey Johnson (Aurora, Colo./Grandview) (23 digs, 16 kills), freshman Katelyn Thompson (Tucson, Ariz./Catalina Foothills) (14 digs, 12 kills) and sophomore Brittany Hayes (Mitchelleville, Md./Elizabeth Seton) (16 kills, 10 digs) each had ?double-doubles' with seven Rider players overall reaching double-digit dig totals.
Also for Rider (2-24, 0-16 MAAC) freshman Elyse Grassmuck (Seguin, Texas/La Vernia) had 43 assists and 19 digs. “Iona came out a lot quicker in games one and two,” said Grassmuck. “We looked like we were ?deer in the headlights' and once we got in the flow in games three and four, we showed that we can play with them and we were able to gain some confidence. In the fifth game, it was a battle but Iona was able to come out on top.”
A key for the Broncs was the 11 kill effort from freshman Tara Nadasky (Stone Ridge, N.Y./Rondout) who led the rally in games three through five coming off the bench. “Tara brought us great energy,” said Ahlquist. “She works hard and is always communicating. She gets everyone to relax and just play. She can lighten the mood out there on the court and the match really turned for us when she came into the game.”
“Tara always brings so much energy to the court,” Grassmuck said. “Whenever she comes on the court, it is a big boost. She screams loud and is great communicating with us and she also hit well today (.172 hitting percentage) so she was able to help the team a lot in the match.”
Iona (13-16, 10-6 MAAC) started the match hitting .217 and .211 in each of the first two games before the Broncs battled back winning game three by 12 points and game four by two.
In the fifth and deciding game, the teams traded points to open the game before the Broncs went on a 4-1 run to open a 6-3 lead. Iona countered with a 4-0 run to lead 7-6 before Rider tied the match at eight, the 20th and final tie of the match including the fifth tie of game five. The match featured 13 lead changes including three in the deciding game.
Iona went on a 4-0 run before Rider countered with three of the next four points to get within one at 14-13 Iona. A kill from Gael Sarah Wiener ended the two hour match, one of a team-high 14 kills Wiener had in the match. Kendall Paulus also had 14 kills for the Gaels.
This was the second time this season that Rider has lost to Iona in five games with the Gaels winning in New Rochelle, New York 3-2 on October 6. Iona leads the series 14-3 with the last Rider win coming during the 1999 season.
Rider hosts Fairfield on Thursday at 6:00pm in Alumni Gym.
“I excited going into the Fairfield match,” said Ahlquist. “If we play like we did in games three, four and five, it is going to be an exciting match.”
Six matches have now gone the maximum five games this season and the Broncs are 1-5 in those matches despite only being out scored by 10 points (89-79) in those games.
“If we play anything like we did today, it is going to be another great match,” Grassmuck added. “It is upsetting that we haven't won that much but we are a solid group and we are meshing. Looking at how many matches have gone five games, we could easily have eight to 10 wins so we are just going to continue working hard and battling.”
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