LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ – The Rider University volleyball team opened MAAC play with a strong effort in Alumni Gym Saturday afternoon, defeating Saint Peter's in four sets. The Broncs improve to 3-8 on the season, while the Peacocks fell to 0-13 in what was their conference opener as well.
 
Tied 8-8 in the opening set, the Peacocks scored six-straight points, including a trio of service aces, to open up a lead. Down 22-19, Rider made a stand scoring four-straight points on the serve of Molly Strah (Akron, OH/Archbishop Hoban) to regain the lead at 23-22, but three straight points by the Peacocks closed out the first set.
 
The Broncs fired back in set two, starting 12-for-12 in sideout opportunities and finishing at 92% for the set. Leading 20-13, Rider ended the set with five-straight points including a pair of kills by Jenna Amaro (Davie, FL/Archbishop McCarthy).
 
Rider appeared to be cruising in the third set as well. Down 5-3, the Broncs scored nine-unanswered points on the serve of Morgan Romano (Oviedo, FL/Hagerty), capped by back-to-back kills from Tori Schrader (Grantville, PA/Lower Dauphin). However, the Peacocks did not go down easily. Trailing 22-16, Saint Peter's scored six-straight points to tie the match at 22. After a service error gave the Broncs back the lead, Rider scored two of the next three points to take the set 25-23.
 
The Peacocks carried the momentum into the fourth set, scoring the first four points. The Peacocks held the advantage for a majority of the set, holding an 18-16 edge when the Broncs made their run. Keegan O'Connor (Weatherford, TX/Weatherford) served the matches final nine points, as Rider capped off the match with blocks to end two of the final three points.
 
QUOTES & NOTES
"There wasn't a lot of good in the first set, second set goes our way, third set is too big of a lead to give up. They had momentum after that third set and that's not how we want to play volleyball. We cleaned it up in the fourth set, but we know we can play 1000 times better."
 
"The momentum was with Saint Peter's in the third set when they tied it up. Our ability to respond to that is what we wanted to see. We need to find a way to play a lot more consistent volleyball."
 
"[Morgan] is a lead-by-example type of player. The rest of the team can see what it takes to be one of the best players in the conference." – Head Coach Jeff Rotondo
 
"We came out thinking we were going to be perfect on everything and overthought it. We did a better job in the second, third, and fourth picking it up. We need to have the mentality of we know how good we are and we need to play up to those expectations."
 
"I want my teammates to know they can trust me, and know that I can get the job done. But also, I want them to see what I do and lead by example that they can do this too."
 
"As a team we need to stay together, take a breather, and just move on to the next point. We have been working a lot on blocking, and the front row really stepped it up at the end. We could've had more throughout the match, it's something that we're working on." – Senior Opposite Morgan Romano
 
- Rider extends its lead in the all-time series to 36-21 and the Broncs have won 24 of the last 25 meetings.
- Romano finished with double-digit kills for the seventh time this season, finishing with a team-high 12. She added a team-high 17 digs for her second double-double of the season.
- Amaro also had 12 kills, her second time this season in double figures.
- Schrader was the third Bronc with 12 kills, reaching double-digit kills for the second-straight match.
- O'Connor had 12 digs, her second double-digit dig match this season.

BRONCS BY THE NUMBERS
- The Broncs hit .286 in the match, to Saint Peter's .130.
- Rider had 57 kills to 36 for the Peacocks.
- Rider finished with 75 digs, to just 49 for Saint Peter's.
- In addition to Roamo's 17 and O'Connor's 12, Alicia Iafrate (Closter, NJ/Demarest) had eight digs.

UP NEXT
Rider continues MAAC play when it takes on Iona in New Rochelle next Saturday at 1 p.m.