LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ – Four different players recorded 13 or more kills, but it was not enough as the Rider University volleyball team fell to visiting Manhattan, 3-2, on Wednesday evening in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) inside Alumni Gymnasium.
 
The Broncs (14-15, 11-6 MAAC) fell to the Jaspers (7-22, 4-12 MAAC) by scores of 19-25, 25-19, 20-25, 26-24 and 15-8.
 
In the fifth and deciding frame, Manhattan used a 6-0 run to build an 11-4 lead they would not relinquish. Rider battled back to cut the deficit to three at 11-8, but the Jaspers answered by scoring the final four points of the match.
 
Morgan Romano (Oviedo, FL/Hagerty) paced the Rider attack with a match-high 18 kills, while Evelyn Shanefield (Drexel Hill, PA/Upper Darby) chipped in a career-high 15 kills. Freshman Morgan Koch (Bloomington, IL/Central Catholic) and senior Alexa Shello (Long Valley, NJ/West Morris Central) each had 13 kills apiece for the Broncs.
 
In the middle, sophomore setter Anilee Sher (Poughkeepsie, NY/Spackenkill) racked up her 10th double-double of the season with a 54-assist, 15-dig performance.
 
NOTES & QUOTES
"The team has to find a way. It goes back to practice yesterday where we didn't seem mentally tough and it carried over into today. We let one error snowball into another and another. We weren't processing our mistakes and moving on. We need to be a lot tougher on Saturday." – Rider Head Coach Jeff Rotondo
 
- The loss snapped a six-match winning streak for the Broncs against the Jaspers.
- Rider has won 10 or more conference matches in each of the last six seasons.
- As a team, Rider had 63 kills, five service aces, 93 digs and six total blocks.
- Manhattan had 16 blocks.
- The Broncs committed 38 attack errors.
- On Tuesday, Morgan Romano was named the MAAC Rookie of the Week for the 11th time this season.
 
BRONCS BY THE NUMBERS
- Anilee Sher became the first player in program history to register multiple 1,000-assist seasons. On the year, she has 1,047 assists and she is averaging 10.19 assists per set.
- Defensively, five different Broncs had 10 or more digs.
- Rachelle Runyon had a season-high 33 digs. It was her second match this season with 30 or more digs. She now has 1,574 digs in her career and she is two digs away from moving into third-place in program history.
- Romano added 11 digs to register her team-leading 11th double-double of the season.
- Evelyn Shanefield set a new career-best with 15 kills. It was her third match of the year with 10 or more digs. She also added three block assists for the Broncs.
 
UP NEXT
Rider closes out the 2019 regular season on Saturday, November 16, with a match against hOURglass rival Saint Peter's that is slated to begin at 5:00 pm inside Alumni Gymnasium. The Broncs are looking to complete the regular-season sweep of the Peacocks after topping SPU, 3-0, last month in Jersey City.