LAWRENCEVILLE?In the battle of New Jersey, the Rider University volleyball team lost a five-set heartbreaker to Saint Peter's on Sunday in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference match. “We out-hit them, out-dug them and out-blocked them and still lost,” said head coach Emily Ahlquist. “We made way too many errors in the fifth set and that cost us.”
The Peahens won 27-25, 20-25, 22-25, 25-23, 15-12 in a match that featured 36 ties and 16 lead changes.
For Rider (8-10, 1-7 MAAC), sophomore Amanda Piccolini (St. Clairsville, Ohio/St. Clairsville) had a career-high 62 assists to go along with 14 digs, one of three Broncs to produce a ?double-double'. “Amanda did a good job finding the open attackers,” said Ahlquist. “We had a couple of times that we were up early and went into ?cruise mode' and Saint Peter's was able to mount a comeback.”
Piccolini had 56 assists in Rider's home match against Saint Peter's last season.
“Amanda ran the floor for us today,” said Ahlquist. “She just took over and put the ball where the attackers needed it.”
“The hitters were incredible today,” said Piccolini who had 81 assists in the two matches this weekend. “We communicated a lot better than we had been and with the assists, a lot of the credit has to go to your teammates.”
Senior Lindsay Brant (Long Beach, N.Y./Long Beach) (27 digs, 13 kills) and junior Brittany Hayes (Mitchellville, Md./Elizabeth Seton) (14 digs, 13 kills) also scored ?double-doubles' for the Broncs with junior Amy Jeary (Depew, N.Y./St. Mary's) leading both teams with 37 digs. Brant also had four service aces.
Rider out-hit Saint Peter's (10-11, 5-3 MAAC) .166 to .161. The teams combined for 261 digs in the two-hour match. The Peahens had four players with 20+ digs. “Saint Peter's is a good team,” Ahlquist added. “They just dig and dig and dig and we didn't have very good net play.”
The Broncs entered the match having won 10 of 11 sets that were decided by two points before dropping both today (27-25, 25-23).
Rider is 0-2 in matches that have gone five sets this season.
The first set saw Saint Peter's jump out with a 5-0 run to start the match. The Peahens maintained that lead (20-15) before the Broncs rallied with a 5-0 run to tie the set at 20. Rider led 25-24 before Saint Peter's used a 3-0 run (two kills and an ace) to take the set by two 27-25.
Trailing 7-4 in the second set, Rider rallied with a 6-2 run to take a one-point lead. Following a 4-0 Bronc run, Rider led 14-10. Saint Peter's cut the Bronc lead to one but rider held them off and a late 4-0 run sealed the set by five, 25-20.
Set three, which saw 15 ties and eight lead changes went to the Broncs on the strength of a 3-0 run that, broke a 22 all tie. Sophomore Katelyn Thompson (Tucson, Ariz./Catalina Foothills) had two of her match high 23 kills to clinch the set.
Set four saw rider jump out to an 11-4 lead before the Peahens stormed back with a 13-6 run to tie the set at 17. Tied at 22, Saint Peter's scored three of the next four points to force the fifth and deciding set.
Tied at two in the fifth set, the Peahens used a 7-3 run to open up a four point lead. Rider got to within two points twice, the last at 14-12 before the final Peahen kill ended the match.
Saint Peter's has won 17 of the 29 matches in the all-time series including the last eight in a row. The Peahens defeated Rider earlier this season (September 20) in Jersey City by a 3-1 score.
“You use the repeat matches in the conference as a measuring stick,” Ahlquist said. “I was happy that we improved from the last time we played Saint Peter's and I expect that we will continue to improve.”
The Broncs have lost four straight.
“It is a little frustrating that we keep missing it by a little bit,” Piccolini said. “I was happy that we played better today. Yesterday (at Marist) was a quick ugly loss and to come back and play like we did today and fight and battle is a good sign.”
“I was happy that we played better than yesterday,” Ahlquist added. “You hate to say any loss is pretty but this almost qualifies as a pretty loss; almost. We were out of sync in places we shouldn't be out of sync and I think the players are starting to learn the importance of the things we do in practice.”
Rider travels to Western New York for a pair of MAAC matches at Niagara (October 18) and at Canisius (October 19).
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