College Volleyball
Loyola University 3, Rider University 2
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Match
LAWRENCEVILLE?Trailing two sets to none, the Rider University volleyball team forced a fifth set before losing to Loyola (8-25, 4-14 MAAC) on Sunday in the final match of the 2008 season. “It was a great match, except for the end result,” said head coach Emily Ahlquist. “The teams battled for more than two hours and neither side gave an inch. Loyola is one of the scrappiest teams we've seen all year and we stayed with them point for point.”
The Greyhounds defeated the Broncs 25-23, 25-19, 18-25, 27-29, 19-17 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference match.
For Rider (9-19, 2-16 MAAC), junior Amy Jeary (Depew, N.Y./St. Mary's) had 47 digs with senior Lindsay Brant (Long Beach, N.Y./Long Beach) adding a ?double-double' of 20 digs and 18 kills. “Lindsay had a fantastic senior year,” Ahlquist said. “She just went out and played.”
“We started a little slow and after the 10-minute break between sets two and three, we went into the locker room and refocused on what we had to do in the third and fourth set,” Brant said. “It's been a long season but I think we played really well in this match. We had solid communication and that allowed me to hear where the open shots were and I was able to hit them.”
Also for the Broncs, junior Brittany Hayes (Mitchellville, Md./Elizabeth Seton) had 13 kills and seven blocks. “Brittany came ready to play today,” Ahlquist said. “She is a very dynamic and aggressive player who wants to win.”
“We had a lot of incentive that it was our last match and we wanted to do well,” Hayes said. “The season didn't go the way we planned and we wanted to finish out on a strong note. There is some frustration that we battled all the way back and had the lead in the fifth set and still didn't win."
Rider led 10-4 in the opening set before the ?Hounds responded with an 8-2 run to tie the score at 12. Trailing 19-15, Loyola again battled back with a 5-1 run to tie the set at 20. Trailing by one, the Greyhounds won the final three points to clinch a 25-23 win.
The Greyhounds made up an early 7-3 deficit in set two with a 9-3 run to take a 12-10 lead. Rider cut the ?Hound lead to four on several occasions, the last at 21-17 but could get no closer as Loyola won by six to take a seemingly commanding 2-0 lead.
The 10-minute intermission saw a rejuvenated Bronc squad hit the court as Rider turned a 3-3 tie into a 20-11 lead. The Broncs hit .317 and won the set by seven.
Set four was an epic battle that featured 17 ties and six lead changes. Rider led early 13-10 before Loyola used a 4-1 run to tie the set at 14. The set was tied 11 more ties including every point in the 20's. Trailing by one (27-26), Rider staved off one match-point and won the final three points, forcing a fifth and deciding set.
Trailing 5-1 in the final set, Rider went on a 6-0 run behind two service aces from sophomore Kristy Love (Pittsford, N.Y./Pittsford/Sutherland). Love had five aces in the match. Tied at 14, the teams traded the next six points and trailing by one 17-16 and facing a match-point of their own, the Greyhounds ended the match with a 3-0 run.
The final set had seven ties and four lead changes with the overall match featuring 36 ties and 17 lead changes.
Loyola swept the season series including a 3-1 decision on November 8 in Baltimore, Maryland. The 'Hounds lead the all-time series 20-7 with the last Bronc win coming during the 2001 season.
Rider ended the season on a nine-match losing streak. “It was an up and down season,” Ahlquist said. “Today we competed well and I'm happy that the seniors got to go out on more of a positive note. We did our best to try and win the match and that's all you can ask from your team.”
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