College Volleyball - Tribe Invitational - Day Two
Rider University 3, North Carolina A&T 0
University of Maryland Eastern Shore 3, Rider 0
Grassmuck All-Tournament
WILLIAMSBURG, Va.-The Rider University volleyball team picked up its first win of the 2009 season with a straight set triumph of North Carolina A&T on day two of the Tribe Invitational, hosted by William and Mary before losing to Maryland Eastern Shore in the final match.
Rider won 25-17, 25-18, 25-20 over the Aggies Saturday morning after losing to Ohio State and host William and Mary Friday in straight sets. "We were ready and fought hard," said head coach Emily Ahlquist. "Anytime you win, it is nice. We wanted to show ourselves that we could play better than we did on the first day. It was tough getting up to play two mornings in a row but we were able to do it. We showed a lot of mental toughness bouncing back from the two losses Friday."
Junior setter Elyse Grassmuck (San Antonio, Texas/La Vernia) was named to the all-tournament team after averaging 3.8 assists, 2.0 digs and 1.1 kills per set in the four matches.
"I came out ready to play this weekend," said Grassmuck. "I wanted to play hard and I always play to win. I did some setting and then I was needed to play outside hitter. I did my best to play well and execute."
The Broncs lost the night cap to UMES (2-2) 25-21, 25-18, 25-15.
"It was a learning weekend for us," Grassmuck said. "We didn't play well in the first match against Ohio State on Friday but battled hard and stepped up our play against William and Mary and today, we played pretty well and got the win against North Carolina A&T. We started strong against UMES but it went down hill after the first set. I think the mental strain of four matches in such a short time kind of caught up with us. We were physically ready to play but we didn't play as well as we could."
This was the second career all-tournament honor for Grassmuck. As a freshman, Grassmuck had 43 assists, 22 kills, 34 digs and five blocks in the four matches of the Temple Invitational August 24-25, 2007.
For Rider (1-3) against the Aggies, senior captain Amy Jeary (Depew, N.Y./St. Mary's) had 29 digs with junior Katelyn Thompson (Tucson, Ariz./Catalina Foothills) adding 11 kills. "Amy had a fantastic match and was in the 'zone' all day, covering the floor," Ahlquist said. "She passed well and also read the hitters well. Katelyn did a better job of seeing the court and seeing the blockers. She did a good job attacking the ball."
Trailing 10-8 in the opening set, Rider went on a 4-0 run, three points off of service aces by freshman Brittany Gajewski (Whitehouse Station/Hunterdon Central). Gajewski had three aces in the match.
Leading 16-15, the Broncs won nine of the last 11 points, two kills by junior Kristy Love (Pittsford, N.Y./Pittsford Sutherland) to take a one set lead in the match. Love had seven kills and hit .429 in the match with the Broncs hitting .312 as a team.
Rider broke open another close battle in the second set, breaking ninth and final tie (17-17) with an 8-1 run, three kills by freshman Stephanie Nagy (Muscatine, Iowa/Muscatine).
The Broncs led throughout the third and final set, opening up an early 8-4 lead, off of two kills by Thompson and several NC A&T errors.
The Aggies cut the Rider lead to 11-9 before a 4-0 run, two kills by senior Brittany Hayes (Mitchellville, Md./Elizabeth Seton) put the Broncs up by six. Hayes finished the match with five kills.
Also for the Broncs, Grassmuck had 21 assists with fellow setter junior Amanda Piccolini (St. Clairsville, Ohio/St. Clairsville) adding 13 assists.
"Elyse was vocal and provided solid court leadership," Ahlquist said. "Her and Amanda are both very comfortable running the lineups that we have been using."
In the second match, UMES jumped out to a 4-0 first set lead. Rider cut the lead to one at 12-11 before the Hawks scored the next three points, eventually winning by four.
A 13-6 run broke a 12-12 tie in the second set as the four matches in 30 hours seemed to catch up with the Broncs.
The third set was all Hawks as UMES broke open an 8-6 set with a 12-2 run, winning by 10 to clinch the match.
Piccolini had 19 assists against UMES for the Broncs.
Rider travels to Atlanta, Georgia for the Great 8 Challenge September 4-5.
-RU-
