Women's College Volleyball

Fairfield University 3, Rider University 0

FAIRFIELD, CT—The Broncs saw their five-match winning streak come to an end with a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference loss at first-place Fairfield Saturday afternoon.

“Fairfield is really good,” said Rider head coach Chris Feliciano.  “I'm really pleased with the effort the kids put forth today. Outside of winning a set, we went toe-to-toe with them. We didn't back off.”

Trailing 22-16, the Broncs (13-12, 7-6 MAAC) came back to tie the score at 22-22 before losing the first set 27-25. “I felt the first set could have gone either way,” Feliciano said.  “Consistency is the issue.”

The Stags (21-5, 14-0 MAAC) won the second and third sets by the score of 25-22.

For Rider, sophomore Hailey Riede (Haworth/Northern Valley-Demarest) compiled 14 kills and 14 points. Senior Kaitlyn Griffin (Chesapeake, VA/Hickory) had 10 kills, a block and two block assists, for 12 points. Junior Veronica Koval (Allentown, PA/Parkland) had 38 assists and eight digs.

“Hailey, Griffin and Veronica all had really good matches for us today,” Feliciano said.  “I thought the entire team played well. It was a collective effort.”

Fairfield won 3-1 at Rider earlier this year. “We've gotten a lot better since the first time we played them,” Feliciano said. 

The Stags have now won 29 of the 33 meetings with Rider. Rider won at Fairfield last year.

Rider travels to Quinnipiac Sunday. “We just have to regroup and go take care of business,” Feliciano said.  “If we can play the way we've been playing, the way we played today, we'll be competitive and hopefully we'll come out with a 'W'.”

Time to start a new winning streak.

-ru-