College Volleyball - Liberty Invitational
CSU-Bakersfield 3, Rider University 1
Saint Francis (Pa.) 3, Rider University 1
Webber All-Tournament for Rider
LYNCHBURG, Va.--The Rider University volleyball team lost twice on the final day of the Liberty Invitational, hosted by the Flames of Liberty University.
In the second match, Rider (2-8) lost to the Flash of SFPA (3-8) 27-25, 25-17, 18-25, 25-17 in a match that had 21 ties and 13 lead changes.
For the Broncs against the Flash, freshman Ashlee Amatulli (Menifee, Calif./Temecula Valley) had 29 assists and 11 digs with freshman Jaclyn Webber (Anaheim,Calif./Canyon) adding 17 kills (hitting .318) while fellow rookie Kayla Wong (Tustin, Calif./Arnold O. Beckman) compiled 10 kills.
Webber, who had missed the last five matches prior to this weekend with an ankle injury, was named to the all-tournament team after averaging 3.18 kills and 1.00 digs per set in the 11 sets of competition in Virginia.
"Jaclyn found ways to get kills," said head coach Christopher Feliciano. "She had several one on one situations and she also did well against double blocks, spraying the ball to different areas of the floor."
As a team, the Broncs hit .262 (second highest attack percentage of the season) with SFPA hitting .290.
"Against Saint Francis (Pa.), we did a nice job making adjustments and eliminating their middle," said Feliciano. "We struggled with our serve receive at critical points of the match and that's what cost us. We are going to have to go through some of these things in order to get better, it is part of the maturation of the team."
For Rider in the opening match against CSU-Bakersfield (3-5), the Broncs lost in four sets 25-17, 25-20, 23-25, 25-19, in a match that featured nine ties and five lead changes with Amatulli compiling 19 assists and nine digs for the Broncs.
Freshman Shelbie Stannard (Alvin, Texas/Alvin) had 12 digs and then grabbed 12 digs against Saint Francis (Pa.).
Junior Stephanie Nagy (Muscatine, Iowa/Muscatine) compiled 11.5 points with eight kills and seven block assists as the Broncs out-blocked CSUB 11-6 but could not overcome hitting .083. Nagy added four more block assists against Saint Francis (Pa.).
CSUB had 14 service aces in the match.
Feliciano was given a red card and ejected in the fourth and final set.
"We had some calls that didn't go our way but I'm proud of how the team battled to overcome that," Feliciano added.
Even though the Broncs have lost four straight, Feliciano feels that the team is starting to head in the right direction enter conference play this week.
"We took a lot of steps forward," Feliciano added. "We almost took a set off of Liberty which is highly ranked in the RPI and and against both CSUB and SFPA, we were winning almost all of the sets and didn't quite finish."
Rider returns home to open Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference play against Saint Peter's on Tuesday at 6pm in Alumni Gymnasium on the Lawrenceville campus.
"We are excited to return to Alumni Gym," said Feliciano. "Our non-conference schedule has been tough, playing some really good opponents. We've gotten what I have expected out of the tournaments. Sure, you want more wins but I can honestly say that we've been in nine of our 10 matches so far from a competitive stand point and gained much needed experience, moving into the part of the season that matters most."
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