College Volleyball
Siena College 3, Rider University 2
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Match
LAWRENCEVILLE--The Rider University volleyball team took the Siena Saints to five sets before losing a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference match on Saturday afternoon in Alumni Gymnasium.
The Saints, who qualified for the four-team conference playoffs next weekend at Fairfield, escaped with a 25-18, 23-25, 27-25, 21-25, 15-7 win to improve to 19-10, 13-4 in the MAAC.
"I'm proud of the effort," said head coach Christopher Feliciano. "One play here and there and we would have won the match in four. There is no questioning the heart and desire of this team. The only thing you could ask for differently is getting the win."
For Rider (11-16, 4-13 MAAC), sophomore Ashlee Amatulli (Menifee, Calif./Temecula Valley) had 46 assists and 11 digs with sophomore Jaclyn Webber (Anaheim, Calif./Canyon) adding 13 digs and 12 kills.
Amatulli had two service aces and led the Broncs to a 9-0 lead in the second set with her serving.
"Ashlee did things to keep us in the match," Feliciano said. "She gave the attackers balls that were hittable and kept her teammates believing that we could win. And Jaclyn, she did well attacking. She had a high number of attacks but didn't make errors and kept the ball in play. She made it hard for Siena to run their offense."
Also for the Broncs, junior Bridget Sheerin (Oak Lawn, Ill./Marist) had 18 digs and 11 kills with senior Brittany Gajewski (Whitehouse Station/Hunterdon Central) adding 34 digs.
Sophomore Kayla Wong (Tustin, Calif./Arnold O. Beckman) had 12 kills for the Broncs.
Siena out-hit Rider .211 to .115.
There were 19 ties and five lead changes in the match, 15 ties in the third set.
Siena defeated Rider 3-1 on October 14 to sweep the season series.
"I told the team that while losses like this sting, they are ok, considering the caliber of team we were facing. We had Siena out of system consistently and they struggled against the adjustments that we made."
Rider hosts Marist on Sunday at 1pm in the final match of the 2012 season. Prior to the match, Rider will honors its senior class of Gajewski, Meg Cook (Warrington, Pa./Archbishop Wood), Haley Wilson (Williamsburg, Iowa/Williamsburg) and Stephanie Nagy (Muscatine, Iowa/Muscatine).
"We want to win Sunday for the seniors," said Feliciano said. "But for the team as a whole, tomorrow is really day one of the spring, 2013 season. It is the last chance this team has to put a mark on the things that we have to work on."
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