FAIRFIELD, CT – Freshman Morgan Romano (Oviedo, FL/Hagerty) registered a match-high 24 kills, but it was not enough as the third-seeded Rider University volleyball team fell to No. 6 Quinnipiac, 3-1, in the first round of the 2019 MAAC Volleyball Championship on Friday afternoon at Alumni Hall.
 
The Broncs (15-16) see their season come to an end with the four-set loss, while the Bobcats (13-15) advanced thanks to winning by scores of 25-16, 25-18, 17-25 and 25-21.
 
With the score knotted at 21 in the fourth frame following a kill from Rider freshman Morgan Koch (Bloomington, IL/Central Catholic), Quinnipiac responded with the final four points of the match to score the upset.
 
Romano paced the Rider attack with 24 kills, while Koch added 10 kills of her own.
 
In the middle, sophomore setter Anilee Sher (Poughkeepsie, NY/Spackenkill) had a solid game for the Broncs racking up 44 assists, two aces, two kills and seven digs.
 
Defensively, senior libero Rachelle Runyon (Aliso Viejo, CA/Aliso Niguel) had a match-high 20 digs. Romano and junior Danielle Blanco (El Paso, TX/Franklin) both chipped in eight digs apiece.
 
NOTES & QUOTES
"First, congrats to Quinnipiac who played an excellent match tonight. They were certainly the more disciplined and fearless team, and that is something we have to learn and improve upon. We just didn't have the fight tonight we needed in the first and second sets. This is something that we will need to improve upon as a program in order to grow. Personally, I would have loved to have gotten them one more match, as coaching this team has been a pleasure. My heart is heavy for the seniors right now with their college careers coming to an end too quickly, and I can't thank them enough for their service to this program and to me in my first year here." – Rider Head Coach Jeff Rotondo
 
- The meeting was the first-ever between the Broncs and the Bobcats in the MAAC Championship.
- The loss snapped a four-match winning streak for Rider versus Quinnipiac.
- Rider is now 2-3 all-time in the MAAC Championship as the No. 3 seed.
- As a team, Rider had 63 points, 52 kills, four service aces, seven blocks and 53 digs.
- The Broncs committed eight service errors and 31 attack errors.
 
BRONCS BY THE NUMBERS
- It marked Romano's 10th match of the season with 20 or more kills. She ends her stellar season with 534 kills. The 534 kills are the most by a freshman in program history. It is also the second-highest kill total in a single-season in Rider history. Her 4.64 kills per set are also the second-most in a single season in program history. She ended the year with 602.5 points.
- Runyon had 20 or more digs in a match for the 14th time this fall. She ended the season with 563 digs. The 563 digs are the fifth-most in a single-season in program history. In her career, she totaled 1,603 digs, which ranks third all-time in program history.
- Anilee Sher had 40 or more assists in a match for the 15th time this year. On the season, she had 1,136 assists and averaged 10.28 assists per set. She recorded the second-most assists in a single-season in program history and the second-most assists per set in a season in Rider history.
- Morgan Koch had three block assists in the match. On the year, racked up 109 block assists.
- Evelyn Shanefield had four block assists for the Broncs. She ends her career second in program history with 280 block assists. She also ranks fifth in Rider history with 342.0 total blocks.
- It marked the final collegiate match for Evelyn Shanefield, Rachelle Runyon and Alexa Shello. During the four years in Lawrenceville the Broncs went 68-56 overall and posted a mark of 45-27 in MAAC play.