LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ – The Rider University volleyball team won its fourth-straight match Friday night, defeating Sacred Heart, 25-17, 25-23, 25-27, 25-22. The Broncs improve to 6-8 on the season and 4-0 in conference play, while the Pioneers fall to 3-13 overall and 0-4 in league matches.
 
Down 5-2, early in the match, the Broncs came back with a 7-2 run, capped by an ace from Carly Allen (Buffalo, NY/Sacred Heart Academy). Up 11-10, Rider then extended the lead with a 5-0 run, including an ace from Simone Langford (Hollywood, FL/Flanagan). The Broncs, never looked back, extending the lead to as large as 24-15 in winning the opening set.
 
After falling behind 10-8 in set two, the Broncs got to work, going on a 6-1 run, including a kill and two blocks from Rylah Robinson (Fairfax, VA/Robinson). Robinson had 11 kills in the first two sets of the match. Sacred Heart would come back to tie the set 21-21, but a kill from Kiannisha Santiago (San Juan, PR/Hudson Catholic (NJ)) spurred a 3-0 run, then leading 24-23, Robinson slammed home a kill to give the Broncs the second set.
 
The Broncs appeared poised to walk away with the match going up 7-1 with Carley McAleavey (Smithtown, NY/Smithtown West) getting two blocks and a kill, but trailing 13-9, the Pioneers went on a 7-0 run to take the lead in the set. Rider would come back to tie the set 19-19, and later take the lead 22-21. The Broncs would get their first match point at 24-23, but Sacred Heart countered with back-to-back points for its first set point of the match. The Broncs fought it off to even the set 25-25, but the Pioneers scored two-straight at that point to win the set.
 
The fourth set went back and forth early before tied 11-11, the Pioneers pulled ahead with a 3-0 run and eventually extended the lead to 22-18. At that moment, the Broncs got a side out to send Santiago to the service line, where she would serve the next six points, including three McAleavey kills to give Rider a 7-0 that closed out the match.
 
QUOTES & NOTES
"We played some pretty tough competition on purpose early in the year so that we can have some confidence to fall back on when we play tough teams in conference. I was really happy with our energy in sets one and two, little dip in set three where we got sloppy with the ball, but our ability to fight in the end of the fourth set speaks volumes."
 
"We talked about where we want to try and swing against them and how their block sets up and we did a really good job executing that in sets one and two. Rylah's vision was really good tonight. She saw the block well, she saw the defense well. Kianny, same thing. Erynn did great, and obviously Molly and Carley in the middle, it's really hard to stop those two right now." – Head Coach Jeff Rotondo
 
"I was really just trusting my training and seeing holes in the block, and trying to go for everything. If I'm going to fail, just fail hard. We just have to remember that we are a good team and as long as we do our best and go for everything, the outcome will be what we want." – Junior Outside Hitter Rylah Robinson
 
- Rider extends its lead in the all-time series to 8-3.
- Santiago led all players in the match with 18 kills, reaching double figures for the eighth time this season and 41^st time in her career.
- Erynn Gotsch (DeLand, FL/DeLand) finished with a career-high 15 kills, reaching double figures for the third time in her freshman season.
- Robinson added 14 kills on .343 hitting to reach double figures for the fifth time this season and 16^th time in her career.
- Mason had 54 assists for her 13^th match this season and 59^th match in her career with double digits. She added 10 digs for her sixth career double-double.
- Keegan O'Connor (Weatherford, TX/Weatherford) led the Broncs with 15 digs to reach double figures for the 12^th time this season and 62^nd time in her career.

BRONCS BY THE NUMBERS
- The Broncs hit .331 in the match, while the Pioneers hit .250 as a team.
- Rider had 64 kills to 55 for Sacred Heart.
- The Broncs had 55 digs, while the Pioneers had 54.
- Rider held edges of 6-5 in aces and 10-8 in blocks.

UP NEXT
The Broncs continue the five-match homestand Saturday when they host Fairfield at 2 p.m. in an early showdown of MAAC Unbeatens.