Women's College Volleyball
Marist College 3, Rider University 1
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Match
LAWRENCEVILLE--The Rider University volleyball team won the opening set but lost a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference match to Marist College on Saturday afternoon in Alumni Gymnaium.
The Red Foxes won 15-25, 25-14, 25-21, 25-10.
"I'm disappointed," said head coach Christopher Feliciano. "We played disciplined volleyball in the first set, we were focused and didn't let up. "Sets two, three and four, we didn't know how to sustain that. We are still learning how to compete together. When you win a first set, not only win it but win it convincingly, it hurts that much more to lose the match."
For Rider (3-9, 1-1 MAAC), freshman Ashlee Amatulli (Menifee, Calif./Temecula Valley) had 20 assists and 12 digs with freshman Shelbie Stannard (Alvin, Texas/Alvin) adding a match-high 15 digs.
"Ashlee did a nice job," Feliciano said. "She made some nice defensive moves, something we've been working on. When you play disciplined volleyball, you can have a match like she did today and we need all 16 players to buy into my system and trust that we are doing the right things."
Marist (4-7, 1-0 MAAC) out-hit the Broncs .310 to .225.
Grace Hill had 19 kills and 10 digs for the Red Foxes with a .486 attack percentage.
"Today was more of a case of learning how to finish," Feliciano added. "We are taking the right steps, you saw that in the first set but we need to take ownership and finish the job and we didn't do that today."
Former Northeast Conference rivals, Rider has won 13 of the 29 matches all-time against Marist. The Broncs defeated the Red Foxes in two out of three matches last season including a 3-0 win in the MAAC Championship Tournament and a 3-2 win in Alumni Gym that saw the Broncs rally from two sets down.
The Broncs travel to Marist for the return match on October 23.
Rider hosts Siena on Sunday in a MAAC match at 1pm on the Lawrenceville campus. The Saints lost at Loyola Maryland 3-2 on Saturday afternoon.
"The schedule doesn't stop," said Feliciano said. "Are we rebuilding? Technically yes but we really have a chance to make some noise and do well in the conference and we have the players to make that happen sooner. I'm not going to lie, Siena is going to be a tough match but one we are capable of taking the right steps forward in. They are a tough program but we have the talent to play tougher and I expect that to happen on Sunday."
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