JERSEY CITY, NJ – The Rider University volleyball team closed the 2018 regular season with a five-set loss on the road to Saint Peter's on Saturday afternoon in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) action.

The Broncs (17-10, 12-6 MAAC) saw their nine-match winning streak come to an end, while the Peacocks (8-24, 5-13 MAAC) won their second match in a row. SPU erased a 2-1 deficit to win the final two frames and enter the postseason on a high note. The Peacocks won by a score of 25-23, 15-25, 17-25, 25-19, 15-11.

Rider got off to a quick start in the fifth frame, scoring the first five points of the set. The hosts answered with a spurt of their own to eventually tie the game at six follow a Bronc attack error. Rider would late take a 10-8 edge follow a Peacock attack error, but SPU would answer by scoring seven of the final eight points to secure the win.

Senior Hailey Riede (Haworth, NJ/Northern Valley-Demarest) led the offensive charge for the Broncs with 16 kills, while classmate Savannah Logan (Jupiter, FL/Benjamin) added 13 kills. At the net, freshman Caprice Clarke (Toronto, Canada/Blyth Academy (Yorkville)) continued her steady play of late with six kills and a career-high seven block assists.

In the middle, freshman Anilee Sher (Poughkeepsie, NY/Spackenkill) was solid on both sides of the ball as she had another double-double thanks to a 46-assist, 14-dig performance.   

On the defensive end, junior libero Rachelle Runyon (Aliso Viejo, CA/Aliso Niguel) had another impressive match for the Broncs with a match-high 31 digs. Sophomore Danielle Blanco (El Paso, TX/Franklin) added 17 digs on the backline for the Broncs.    

NOTES & QUOTES
"We cannot underestimate any opponent. We did that today and we paid the price." – Rider Head Coach Chris Feliciano

- Rider had 71 points, 52 kills, 51 assists, eight service aces, 11 total blocks and 90 digs.
- Rider and Saint Peter's split the regular-season series. The loss was the first for Feliciano against the Peacocks and it snapped the Broncs 17-match winning streak versus SPU.  
- Rider has now won 10 or more MAAC games for the fifth year in a row.
- The Broncs had 20 attack errors, six bad sets, five service errors, four reception errors and five block errors.
- Rider will await tomorrow's results to find out their seed in the upcoming MAAC Tournament. The Broncs can finish as high as third-place and no lower than fifth after recording a 12-6 record this fall.

BRONCS BY THE NUMBERS
- Runyon had 10 or more digs for the 25th straight match. On the season, she has a team-best 501 digs. Runyon is the fifth different player in program history to record over 500 digs in as season. She has the seventh-most digs in single-season program history. It marked her third match with 30 or more digs this season. All three have come in MAAC play. She is the only libero in the conference with more than two games with over 30 digs.       
- On Tuesday, Runyon was named the MAAC Libero of the Week and Anilee Sher was tabbed as the MAAC Rookie of the Week. It was the second week in a row that they each earned league-wide distinction.
- Riede had 10 or more kills for the 17th match this autumn. She did so for the ninth time in her last 10 matches. She ranks third in program history with 1,267 kills. Riede has topped 275 digs in all four of her seasons with the team.
- Sher now has 933 assists this year. That is the sixth-most in a single season in program history. She is just the fifth different player in Rider history to dish out over 900 assists in a year.
- It marked Logan's eight MAAC match with over 10 kills.

UP NEXT
Rider will return to action in the MAAC Tournament.