College Volleyball
Manhattan College 3, Rider University 0
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Match
LAWRENCEVILLE?The Rider University volleyball team lost a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference match against Manhattan Saturday afternoon. “I was disappointed with our intensity especially at the end of sets,” said head coach Emily Ahlquist. “We fought really hard to keep it close and at the end, we made some crucial mental errors.”
The Jaspers defeated the Broncs in straight sets 25-23, 25-21, 25-21.
For Rider (9-13, 2-10 MAAC), sophomore Amanda Piccolini (St. Clairsville, Ohio/St. Clairsville) had 25 assists and seven digs with junior Tara Hansen (Beachwood/Toms River South) adding 13 digs.
“Amanda is running a great game,” Ahlquist said. “She is really seeing the blockers, serving tough and playing defense. She has developed into a wonderful setter. Tara stepped up today and did a good job as the libero. It was a new position for her and she hustled and picked up our defensive intensity.”
For Manhattan (6-14, 5-6 MAAC), Sherryta Stokes had a ?double-double' with 15 kills and 12 digs, hitting .609 for the match. Rita Welsh had eight blocks for the Jaspers.
“Manhattan is a very good team,” Ahlquist said. “They are big and block the ball very well. A lot of what happened today, we did to ourselves. We did not utilize all of our shots and we are normally much smarter than that. We did the same thing over and over instead of switching up our shots. We can play better and the things we can control are the things we need to work on. We need to play smarter and get back to basics.”
The first set was a back and forth battle in which neither team led by more than three. With 12 ties and six lead changes, the Jaspers prevailed 25-23. Tied at 22, Manhattan won three of the final four points.
Set two saw the Jaspers jump up 16-9. A 9-4 Rider run got the Broncs within two at 20-18 but that was as close as Rider would get as the Jaspers won three of the final four points in the set.
Rider led 5-1 in the third set before Manhattan battled back to tie the set at 14. After two more ties, the Jaspers increased their lead to five (23-18), with the teams trading points for the final 25-21 score.
Overall, the match had 22 ties and 11 lead changes.
Rider has lost three straight matches.
The Jaspers have defeated Rider in 15 of the 19 matches all-time and the Broncs have not won against Manhattan since the 2004 season.
Rider travels to Siena for a MAAC match on November 1.
“We always play well at Siena,” Ahlquist added. “We are looking forward to the match. It's a fun gym to play in.”
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