Wednesday, April 14, 2021
NCAA Championship First Round
Rider Broncs (7-4) vs. UCLA Bruins (14-6)
Location: Omaha, NE – CHI Health Center Omaha Convention Center
Tip: 10:30 p.m. (ET)
Live Video – ESPN3
Live Stats – NCAA.com
 
What You Need To Know
- Rider makes its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 1996 and participates in the main draw for the first time since 1994 when it takes on UCLA Wednesday night. The only other NCAA Tournament main draw appearance for Rider came in 1994, when the Broncs fell to Northern Iowa in three sets.
- The Broncs punched their ticket to NCAA's by winning their final six matches of the year, including three matches over Manhattan, Siena and Canisius at MAAC Championships.
- Rider is led by 2019 MAAC Rookie of the Year turned 2020-21 MAAC Player of the Year Morgan Romano, who ranks 41^st in the nation at 4.70 points per set and 47^th at 4.11 kills per set. She was named AVCA All-Northeast Regional Honorable Mention.
- The Broncs are also led by junior setter Anilee Sher, the 2020-21 MAAC Championship Most Valuable Player and Co-Setter of the Year. For the season, she averaged 11.64 assists and 2.43 digs per set, while she had a pair of 50-assist contests during the MAAC Championships.
- Second-year Rider Head Coach Jeff Rotondo was named MAAC Coach of the Year after leading the Broncs to the NCAA's. After suffering a five-set heartbreaker to Canisius in the first match of a March 19 doubleheader, the Broncs swept the Canisius in the second match and rattled off five more wins to march to the championship. Rotondo has posted a 22-20 record in his two years at the helm.
- Seniors Ali Ward and Danielle Blanco have also been instrumental in the Broncs' rise. Ward has averaged 3.21 kills per set, while Blanco averages a team-leading 4.73 digs per set.
- UCLA is ranked 17^th in the nation and is essentially the top team in the tournament to not receive a first-round bye. The Bruins are led by All-Region selections Mac May, Zoe Fleck and élan McCall. Fleck was also the Pac-12 Libero of the Year.