LAKE BUENA VISTA, FL – The No. 3 seed Rider University volleyball team saw their record-setting season come to an end with a 3-1 setback to second-seeded Canisius in the Semifinals of the 2018 MAAC Championship on Friday evening. The Griffs won by scores of 25-13, 25-19, 24-26 and 25-21 at the HP Field House at ESPN's Wide World of Sports.

The Broncs (19-11) won their most matches since the 1994 campaign and advanced the MAAC Semifinals for the first time since 2004, while Canisius (17-11) will play top-seeded Iona in tomorrow's conference championship.  

After dropping the first two frames, Rider answered in the third set with a 26-24 win to make it a 2-1 match. With the score tied at 24 apiece, senior Hailey Riede (Haworth, NJ/Northern Valley-Demarest) would deliver a kill and the Broncs won the game on a Griff attack error.

Rider carried the momentum over to the next set, taking seven of the first eight points capped by a Riede kill. Canisius would answer and take their first lead of the set at 13-12 after a Bronc attack error. Down the stretch, Canisius scored the final three points to advance to their first-ever MAAC Championship match.

Riede and classmate Savannah Logan (Jupiter, FL/Benjamin) paced the Bronc attack. The duo combined for 26 kills as Riede delivered 14 and Logan chipped in 12 kills of her own. Junior Alexa Shello (Long Valley, NJ/West Morris Central) ended a career-best campaign with nine kills for the Broncs.  Logan had her second double-double in a row and her ninth of the year as she also recorded 11 digs.

In the middle, Sher was solid on both sides of the ball as she dished out 36 assists, had one service ace, recorded seven digs and registered three block assists.

On the defensive end, junior libero Rachelle Runyon (Aliso Viejo, CA/Aliso Niguel) continued her stellar play. She had 23 digs for the Broncs. Also on the back line, sophomore Danielle Blanco (El Paso, TX/Franklin) added 15 digs and classmate Brynn Sherbert (Temecula, CA/Great Oak) had 10 or her own.      

NOTES & QUOTES
"We gave everything we had tonight. The team fought tooth and nail to rally from being down, 2-0. We took big steps forward in terms of relevancy within the league. This is without a question a special group and with 13 players returning it's truly an exciting time to be part of our program." - Rider Head Coach Chris Feliciano 

- Rider had 52 points, 43 kills, three service aces, 40 assists, six total blocks and 68 digs.
- Canisius has now won three straight games against Rider.
- The 19 wins are the most for the Broncs under Feliciano as the team won 17 in three of the last four years.
- The 19 wins are the most for Rider since the team won 20 matches in 1994 en route to an NEC Championship.
- Rider advanced to the MAAC Championship Semifinals for the second time in program history and they made their first appearance in the conference's final four since 2004.
- The senior class of Savannah Logan, Hailey Riede and Perry Williams combined to win a program-record 44 MAAC matches in a four-year span.
- Rider went 12-6 in the MAAC this season. The 12 wins are most in conference play for Rider since joining the MAAC in 1997.
- The No. 3 seed earned by the Broncs is their highest in program history as well.   

BRONCS BY THE NUMBERS
- Runyon had 10 or more digs for the 28th straight match. She ended the year with 574 digs. Runyon is the fifth different player in program history to record over 500 digs in as season. She recorded the third-most digs in single-season program history. It marked her 13th match with 20 or more digs this season. Her 574 digs are currently tops in the MAAC. Earlier in the day, she recorded her 1,000th career dig.       
- On Tuesday, Runyon was named the MAAC Libero of the Week for the third straight week and the fourth time this season.
- Riede had 10 or more kills for the 20th match this autumn. She did so for the 12th time in her last 13 matches. She ranks third in program history with 1,307 kills. Riede has topped 287 kills in all four of her seasons with the team. Riede set a new career-high this fall in kills per set at 3.12.  
- Sher ends the year with 1,054 assists. That is the fourth-most in a single season in program history. She is just the fourth different player in Rider history to dish out over 1,000 assists in a year.  
- Logan registered her career-best ninth of the season. She recorded 10 or more kills for the third time in the last four matches.   
- In her final collegiate match, Perry Williams had seven kills to go along with four block assists. She leads the MAAC in total blocks (123), blocks per set (1.07), solo blocks (31) and block assists (92).