Harrisonburg, VA – The Rider University volleyball team opened the season by splitting a pair of matches at the James Madison Tournament on Friday. The Broncs (1-1, 0-0 MAAC) scored a 3-2 come-from- behind win against Sacred Heart in the opener before falling to Gardner-Webb, 3-0 in the finale.

Rider won its first match of the season by scores of 25-21, 21-25, 9-25, 25-21 and 15-10. In the fifth and deciding set, the Broncs broke a 5-5 tie with six unanswered points capped by a kill by senior Jennifer Borio (Ridley Park, PA/Padua Academy). Borio paced the Bronc attack in the opener with 16 kills, while accounting for 17 points.

In the finale, Gardner-Webb topped Rider by scores of 25-23, 25-21 and 25-21. As a team, Rider had 35 kills in the match and senior setter Veronica Koval (Allentown, PA/Parkland) chipped in 25 assists, three kills and seven digs. Defensively, senior libero Emma Aldaya (Prospect Park, PA/Merion Mercy Academy) recorded 20 of the team's 51 digs.

Notes & Quotes
"Against Sacred Heart, I think we recovered really well after losing the third set, 25-9," Rider Head Coach Chris Feliciano said. "Our offense was balanced and we did a great job playing defense at the net. Perry Williams played a balanced match with Jen Borio and Brynn Sherbert doing the heavy lifting in the fifth set."

"In our second match of the day, I thought we played a tough match versus a physical team," Feliciano added. "You could see the inexperience of us playing together as a unit. The team knows that no one is going to feel sorry for them and we have to be really focused on coming together. We as a unit need to understand that focus and drive need to be the same whether we are winning or losing."  

- In the opener Rider had 51 kills as a team and a .200 attack percentage. The Broncs also 11 blocks, eight service aces and took advantage of 28 Sacred Heart attack errors.
- In the second match, Rider committed 23 attack errors.
- On the day, five Broncs made their collegiate debut.

Broncs by the Numbers
- Hailey Riede had 13 kills in the opener and she added six in the match versus Gardner-Webb.
- Koval had 44 assists in the opener and closed with 25 in the finale. On the day she recorded her 2,000 assist and she now has 2,047 in her career. She ranks fifth in program history.
- Freshman Brynn Sherbert performed well in her collegiate debut, registering three service aces and 10 digs against Sacred Heart.
- Perry Williams had 10 kills and tied Evelyn Shanefield with a team-high five total blocks.
- Aldaya was stellar all day for Rider, racking up 38 digs. She had 18 in the opener and 20 against Gardner-Webb. She now has over 1,600 career digs and ranks second all-time in Rider history with her sights set on breaking the program record.

Up Next
The Broncs close out their weekend of action at James Madison on Saturday, August 26, with a single contest against the Dukes that is slated to begin at 1:30 pm. Live stats and an audio only broadcast will be available for the contest. Visit the volleyball schedule page on GoBroncs.com for links.