College Volleyball
Siena College 3, Rider University 0
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Match
LOUDONVILLE, N.Y.--The Rider University volleyball team lost its fifth in a row as Siena College swept the Broncs on Sunday in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference match. "The overall weekend was kind of a two steps forward, one step back," said head coach Emily Ahlquist. "We made strides in the right direction so overall, the weekend was pretty positive."
Siena (4-5, 2-0 MAAC) won 25-22, 25-12, 25-18.
For Rider (2-11, 0-2 MAAC), senior Amy Jeary (Depew, N.Y./St. Mary's) had 16 digs with junior Katelyn Thompson (Tucson, Ariz./Catalina Foothills) adding nine kills.
In the opening set, Siena won five of the first six points to take an early 5-1 lead. Trailing 7-4, Rider (2-11, 0-2 MAAC) tied the match at nine with a 5-2 run. A 3-0 run by the Saints broke a 14 all tie with Siena increasing the lead to four at 21-17. Two kills by Thompson cut the Saint lead to one (23-22) but that was as close as Rider would get after a Siena kill and Bronc attack error ended the set.
"We brought the momentum and quality play from yesterday's five-set loss into today's match, at least in the first set," Ahlquist added. "The second and third sets, Siena just hit and passed the ball better. They (Siena) are a very good team. They have some of the hardest hitters in the conference and some of the best passers. They are pretty good."
The second set was all Saints as Siena scored the first four points and leading 4-2, used a 11-4 run to open up a 15-6 lead, winning the set by 13.
The Saints broke a 4-4 tie by scoring five of the next six points to lead 9-5 in the third set. Trailing 18-10, Rider went on a 6-0 run, two blocks by freshman Stephanie Nagy (Muscatine, Iowa/Muscatine) to get within two but that was a close as the Broncs would get with the Saints ending the match on a 6-1 run. Nagy finished with five blocks.
"I thought Stephanie played really well today," Ahlquist said. "She was really hunting the ball down and moving very well. As a whole, we are learning a lot as a team and we are showing signs of applying that knowledge."
Siena, which defeated the Broncs twice last season (3-0, 3-2) has won 15 of the 18 matches in the series against Rider with the last Bronc win in 2004.
Rider hosts Loyola University (Maryland) on September 26 at 2:00pm in a MAAC match that will take place in the Student Recreation Center (adjacent to Alumni Gym) on the Lawrenceville, New Jersey campus.
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