LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ – The Rider University volleyball team opens the 2017 season in Virginia on Friday with a pair of games at the JMU Classic hosted by James Madison. The Broncs are coming off a 2016 season in which they finished fourth in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) standings and qualified for the MAAC Tournament for the third year in a row.

What You Need to Know About the 2017 Broncs
- Rider returns three student-athletes that appeared in over 100 sets last season.
- The Broncs have six newcomers (all freshmen).
- 2016 First-Team All-MAAC performer Hailey Riede returns as the squad's biggest threat up front after leading the team with 287 kills and accounting for 312.5 points last autumn. Riede also added 49 blocks and 43 digs as a sophomore.
- The reigning MAAC Setter of the Year, Veronica Koval, is also back for the Broncs. Koval, a 2017 Preseason All-MAAC selection,  was named Second Team All-MAAC as a junior after leading the conference in service aces (48 and 0.45 per set) and ranking fourth in assists (963 and 9.00 per set). Koval's 963 assists were the fourth highest single-season mark in program history and she also ranks fifth all-time in Rider history with 1,978 career assists.
- Seniors Emma Aldaya, Jennifer Borio and Koval were named team captains entering the season. Borio was named to the MAAC All-Academic team as a junior and recorded 155 kills in 86 sets, while Aldaya was also named to the MAAC All-Academic team and was honored three times last fall as the MAAC Libero of the Week.
- Aldaya set a new single-season program record in 2015 with 634 digs. She has recorded three of the top-six single-season dig totals in program history. Currently, she has 1,623 digs which ranks second in Rider history.
- Rider has won at least one game at its season-opening tournaments in each of the last two seasons.
- Rider opens the year versus Sacred Heart at 10:00 am on Friday; the Broncs are 5-1 all-time against the Pioneers.