Fairfield, CT – The fifth-seeded Rider University volleyball fell to No. 4 seed Marist, 3-2, on Friday evening in the first round of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Tournament at Alumni Hall on the campus of Fairfield University. The Red Foxes rallied past the Broncs by scores of 21-25, 21-25, 25-20, 25-21 and 15-13.

Rider (17-15) sees its season come to an end with a loss in the opening round of the MAAC Tournament for the third year in a row, while Marist (15-15) advances to play top-seed and host Fairfield in the semifinals tomorrow at 2:00 pm.

After Marist took the first point of the match, Rider never trailed as the Broncs took a 1-0 lead courtesy of winning the first set, 25-21. During the first set, Rider had six total blocks as a team and took advantage of 11 Red Fox attack errors. Junior Hailey Riede (Haworth, NJ/Northern Valley-Demarest) paced the Broncs early on with four kills, while senior setter Veronica Koval (Allentown, PA/Parkland) chipped in six digs and five assists in the first frame.

The Broncs scored seven of the first 10 points in the second frame to hold the early momentum. Marist would battle back to pull within four late in frame at 23-19. Rider would answer with a kill from Riede and again Marist would answer with two points in a row before a Koval kill gave Rider a commanding 2-0 edge.

In the third set, Marist scored three of the first four points and Rider responded with a spurt of their own to hold a 14-8 lead following a Red Fox attack error. Marist had a run of six straight points to take an 18-16 advantage. All told, the Red Foxes ended the frame on a 15-5 run to force a fourth set.

Trailing 13-11 in the fourth set, Rider reeled off four in a row and held a 15-13 lead following a kill from Riede. The Red Foxes would rally and force a winner-take-all fifth set.

In the fifth set, Rider erased an early 3-1 deficit with four points in a row. The see-saw battle would see the Red Foxes storm back to take a 6-5 lead. Marist would later hold a 13-11 edge and was serving with match point at 14-12. Following a Riede kill the Broncs pulled within one at 14-13 before Marist sealed the comeback win with a kill.
Rider (17-14, 10-8 MAAC) swept the season series with Saint Peter's (0-30, 0-18 MAAC) and clinched a berth in the MAAC Championship Tournament next weekend. The Broncs will have to wait for tomorrow's results to see their seed as they could finish as high as the third seed.

Offensively, Riede led the charge for the Broncs with a team-high 17 kills and .324 attack percentage. Junior Savannah Logan (Jupiter, FL/Benjamin) and senior Jennifer Borio (Ridley Park, PA/Padua Academy) were the other Broncs with double-digit kills, registering 11 and 10, respectively.

In the middle, Koval was solid on both sides of the ball for the Broncs as she stuffed the stat sheet in her final collegiate game. She recorded 42 assists, 17 digs, five kills and four block assists.  

Defensively, five different Broncs had 10 or more digs led by Koval's 17. Freshman Brynn Sherbert (Temecula, CA/Great Oak) had 14 digs, while classmate Danielle Blanco (El Paso, TX/Franklin) added 13 of her own. Senior tri-captain Emma Aldaya (Prospect Park, PA/Merion Mercy Academy) played well with 12 digs, while sophomore Rachelle Runyon (Aliso Viejo, CA/Aliso Niguel) contributed 11 digs.   

Notes & Quotes
"The playoffs are an exciting time, but it's one of the most frustrating times. You blink your eyes and your season is over. I have to commend our team for overcoming a lot of the adversity that we faced this year both on and off the court. They bend, but they didn't break. When you're up 2-0 you expect to win that match. Even when we lost momentum it wasn't like we fell flat on our face." – Rider Head Coach Chris Feliciano

"We kept fighting and we kept going at it. I'm proud of them for that. Now we need people on our team to emulate the same thing that our three captains have done for us through the four years. We need people to be resilient like them. We have a handful of young ladies that are doing that, but we need everyone to do that. That's what was missing tonight." – Feliciano

"In previous years we've played horribly here in the playoffs. We played an amazing match tonight. I know the result is not what we wanted, but we fought. If you're talking about being relevant and being known as a good team we showed that today. I'm proud of them for that." – Feliciano

"You're talking about the best of the best. I know I say this a lot about our seniors, but they are the best of the best. Veronica holds the assist record, Emma holds the dig record and Jen has been a phenomenal piece for us that has helped us win a lot of matches. Jen's father passed away this year, she missed a week, came back and played well. I don't think there's many people that can replicate that heroic behavior. We have to try. I think that if we put our mind to it and people on this team realize how talented they are we're going to be in a good place." – Feliciano

- On Thursday evening, Hailey Riede earned First Team All-MAAC honors for the second straight year and Veronica Koval landed on the Second Team for the second season in a row.
- Rider had 53 kills, 75 digs and 10 total blocks.
- The Broncs took advantage of 28 Marist attack errors and 12 Red Fox service errors.

Broncs by the Numbers
- Koval has had 25 or more assists in 28 matches this season, including 23 straight. The double-double was her team-leading 15th of the 2017 and her fourth in a row. She is the only Bronc with a double-double this year and she has the most of any setter in the MAAC.
- Riede has reached double-digits in kills in a match 24 times this fall, including 23 of her last 24 matches. She also has a team-best 373 kills in 2017. She is now ninth all-time in Rider history with 992 career kills. It marked her 17th match of the year with a hitting percentage over .300. Versus MAAAC opponents, she averaged over 13 kills per match.
- Aldaya has recorded 10 or more digs in 23 matches this season, including 14 times versus MAAC foes.