College Volleyball
Rider University 3, Saint Peter's University 1
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Match
JERSEY CITY—Trailing one set to none, the Rider University volleyball team rallied for a come from behind, four-set Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference win at Saint Peter's on Saturday afternoon.
Rider (10-3, 2-1 MAAC) won 21-25, 25-22, 25-9, 25-11.
“After losing the opening set, we just refocused, reorganized and we went to work,” said head coach Christopher Feliciano. “We have a talented team and they know how to win. They just have to go out and play. They understand what it is going to take to be successful.”
For the Broncs, freshman Ryan Ackermann (Leesburg, Va./Stone Bridge) had 12 kills and 11 digs, while hitting .320.
“Ryan had a shaky warm up,” Feliciano said. “Through some upperclassmen experience, they were able to calm her down and she put forth one heck of a match.”
“In the beginning, we struggled a lot,” Ackermann said. “It didn't look pretty. We came back in the second set and played our hardest and by the third and fourth set, the score difference really showed that. We all came together as a team and by the end, it was a really fun match.”
Also for Rider, junior Ashlee Amatulli (Menifee, Calif./Temecula Valley) had 20 assists with freshman Kaitlyn Griffin (Chesapeake, Va./Hickory) adding seven kills and seven blocks.
Sophomore Brandie Hill (Portland, Ore./Lincoln) had 15 assists and freshman Alaina Piszczek (Sinking Spring, Pa./Berks Catholic) added 10 digs for Rider.
Rider and Saint Peter's have now split 40 matches all-time. The Broncs swept the Peahens in 2012.
Rider and Saint Peter's meet again on November 9, on senior day, in the final Bronc home match of the 2013 season.
After winning 11 matches all season in 2012, Rider closes September, already hitting the 10-win plateau.
“We've only been swept one time and two of the other losses were in four sets,” Feliciano said. “We've really only been out of one match. We are going to enjoy hitting the 10 win mark by the end of September, that was one of our big goals and then we'll get right to work, thinking about the next two MAAC matches, beginning tomorrow.”
Rider travels to Quinnipiac and Fairfield next weekend for a pair of MAAC matches.
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