LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ – The Rider University volleyball team dropped a five-set thriller to Marist, 3-2, on Sunday afternoon in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) action inside Alumni Gymnasium.
 
The Red Foxes (5-8, 3-1 MAAC) topped the host Broncs (6-10, 3-1 MAAC) by scores of 20-25, 25-18, 25-17, 22-15 and 15-8.
 
Rider took the first and fourth sets on the day. In the fifth frame,  
 
Offensively, Morgan Romano (Oviedo, FL/Hagerty) paced the Bronc attack once again. The first-year opposite had a match-high 23 kills, while junior Ali Ward (West Chester, PA/West Chester East) had a career-high 16 kills for Rider.
 
In the middle, Anilee Sher (Poughkeepsie, NY/Spackenkill) was solid once again for Rider. Sher had a season-best 55 assists to go along with six digs and three block assists.
 
Defensively, three different Broncs had 10 or more digs. Rachelle Runyon (Aliso Viejo, CA/Aliso Niguel) had a team-best 25 digs, while both Danielle Blanco (El Paso, TX/Franklin) and Pamela Loh (Cortlandt Manor, NY/Hendrick Hudson) chipped in 10 digs apiece. 
 
NOTES & QUOTES
"We actually focused on Friday at practice starting faster. We did some things to get our energy up and it paid off. We got the first one under our belt, but Marist is great. They did a lot of things to take us out of rhythm. We need to find a way to match their aggression throughout." – Rider Head Coach Jeff Rotondo
 
"We talked in the locker room how this is a loss, but it's not a death. It's not a big deal if we approach it the right way. Let's learn from it. We put ourselves in a good position by winning our first three conference matches so that this loss is fine if we respond to it the right way." – Rotondo
 
- Marist has won three of its last four matches against Rider.
- As a team, Rider had 57 kills, 65 digs and a season-high 13 total blocks.
- The Broncs took advantage of 21 Marist attack errors and 10 Red Fox service errors.
- Rider committed six attack errors in the fifth set.
- On Tuesday, Rachelle Runyon was named the MAAC Libero of the Week and Morgan Romano was tabbed as both the MAAC Rookie of the Week and the MAAC Player of the Week.
 
BRONCS BY THE NUMBERS
- Morgan Romano had 23 kills for the Broncs. She has recorded 23 or more kills in three of her last four matches. Romano has registered 20 or more kills five times this season. On the year, she has 273 kills.
- Rachelle Runyon had 20 or more digs for the seventh time this season. She moved into sole possession of sixth-place in program history with 1,321 digs and counting. She is 18 digs away from moving into the top-five in program history.
- Ali Ward had a career-high 16 kills. It was her fourth match of the year with 12 or more kills.
- Pamela Loh had 10 or more digs for the second match in a row.
 
UP NEXT
Rider returns to action next weekend, October 5-6, with a pair of road matches at Niagara and Canisius.