College Volleyball
Siena College 3, Rider University 0
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Match

LAWRENCEVILLE—The Rider University volleyball team lost 3-0 to Siena College in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference match on Saturday afternoon in Alumni Gymnasium.

Siena (15-14, 13-4 MAAC) won 25-19, 25-13, 25-19.

"We are tougher than we showed today," said head coach Christopher Feliciano. "Siena is a very strong team but I'm hoping we can chalk this up to a bad day. Mentally, we struggled to be consistent. We let a lot of little things affect us and harped on too many mistakes instead of going after the next point."

For Rider (17-14, 10-7 MAAC), freshman Jennifer Borio (Ridley Park, Pa./Padua Academy) had eight kills and hit .467 with senior Ashlee Amatulli (Menifee, Calif./Temecula Valley) adding 15 assists and five digs. Amatulli, who is Rider's third all-time leading setter, enters Sunday's match needing 10 digs to hit the 1,000 dig plateau.

"Jen has been up and down this year and for her to have a great performance against a great team like Siena is a good thing. I'm pleased with her effort and excited to see if it carries over to Sunday."

Also for the Broncs, freshman Veronica Koval (Allentown, Pa./Parkland) had 11 assists with senior Kayla Wong (Tustin, Calif./Arnold O. Beckman) adding seven kills, two digs and two blocks.

"Kayla is a big piece of our offense," Feliciano said. "When she is on, we can be very, very dangerous."

Rider was out-hit .303 to .106.

"We were not able to match Siena's mental fortitude today," Feliciano added.

Siena had nine service aces in the match.

"Siena, that's their bread and butter," Feliciano said. "They block well (eight blocks) and force you out of system. It is a mental approach on how to receive the ball. We looked timid and at times, we looked like we didn't want the ball hit to us. We need to be the aggressor if we want to continue to move in the right direction."

Siena also defeated Rider 3-0 in Loudonville, New York on October 19 to sweep the season series.

This was only the second home loss (9-2) for Rider this season.

Rider hosts first place Marist College on Sunday in a MAAC match beginning at 1pm.

Prior to the match on Sunday, Rider will honor its graduating seniors, including Jaclyn Webber (Anaheim, Calif./Canyon), Amatulli, Wong, Kelsey Kowalski (Wrightstown/Northern Burlington) and Rachel Jensen (Buena Park, Calif./Troy) with a video tribute.

-RU-