Lawrenceville, NJ – The Rider University volleyball team dropped a home Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) match to Fairfield, 3-0, on Sunday afternoon inside Alumni Gymnasium. The Stags defeated the Broncs for the second time this fall thanks to posting winning scores of 25-22, 25-16 and 25-21.

Rider (14-14, 8-8 MAAC) did not win a set for the first time in conference play this season, while Fairfield (20-6, 15-0 MAAC) stretched their nation-best conference winning streak to 15 games this autumn.

Offensively, junior Hailey Riede (Haworth, NJ/Northern Valley-Demarest) paced the Rider attack with eight kills. She failed to reach double digit kills for the first time since early September. Sophomore middle blocker Evelyn Shanefield (Drexel Hill, PA/Upper Darby) had another strong game for the Broncs with seven kills, while junior Perry Williams (Portland, OR/Cleveland) chipped in six kills and senior Jennifer Borio (Ridley Park, PA/Padua Academy) contributed five kills of her own for the Broncs.

Senior setter Veronica Koval (Allentown, PA/Parkland) was solid on both sides of the ball for the guests as she stuffed the stat sheet once again. Koval recorded seven digs, dished out 25 assists, one kill and one block assist.  

Defensively, senior tri-captain Emma Aldaya (Prospect Park, PA/Merion Mercy Academy) played well with 11 digs. Sophomore Rachelle Runyon (Aliso Viejo, CA/Aliso Niguel) registered nine digs and freshman Brynn Sherbert (Temecula, CA/Great Oak) chipped in six.  

Notes & Quotes
"I think that physically we were a lot better today than we were the first time we played Fairfield," Rider Head Coach Chris Feliciano said. "We didn't execute our game plan as well as I would have liked us to. We were neck and neck with them in the first set. In the third set we fought and played well. We went punch for punch with the league's best team."

"Again, I'm very pleased with how we played today," Feliciano added. "We have a big week ahead of us. We need to win two games to get into the MAAC Tournament. We want to go into Tuesday's practice feeling good about ourselves. Yesterday's result was not what we wanted, but today we played a lot better. We have something we can build on and take the next steps in preparing for this week."

- Rider had 31 kills, 42 digs and six total blocks.
- Rider has lost three matches in a row since topping Marist last Saturday.
- The Broncs are 5-4 at home this season and 7-4 inside the Ocean State.
- The Broncs have two conference matches left this season (at home versus Manhattan and Saint Peter's this upcoming week).  

Broncs by the Numbers
- Koval has had 25 or more assists in 24 matches this season, including 19 straight. Koval is now second in program history with 2,954 career assists. She is 38 assists away from setting a new program record.
- Riede has a team-best 316 kills in 2017. In conference play, she is averaging 12 kills per match. She is now ninth all-time in Rider history with 935 career kills.
- Aldaya has recorded 10 or more digs in 20 matches this season, including 11 times in MAAC play.

Up Next
The Broncs return to action on Wednesday, November 8, with a home MAAC match versus Manhattan that is slated to begin at 7:00 pm. Rider is looking to complete the season sweep of the Jaspers after topping Manhattan earlier this year inside Draddy Gymasnium. The contest will feature both live stats and video. For links visit the women's volleyball schedule page on GoBroncs.com.