Eagles soar past Rivier 3-0
(Springfield, Mass.) The Rivier Men's Volleyball team was defeated by Concordia University Irvine this evening in day two of the Hall of Fame Classic by the score of 3-0. With the loss, the Raiders drop to 4-6 on the season. With the win, the Eagles improve their record to 7-4 on the year.
Concordia really put the pressure on the Raiders in the first set, running out to a 10-3 lead to force a timeout as Brett Anema (SR/La Mirada, CA) combined with Brendan Duff (JR/Lebanon, IN) for a block. The Eagles kept up the pressure out of the timeout as their lead grew to 15 at the 21-6 mark with a kill from Taylor Falduti (FR/San Diego, CA). Concordia maintained that sizeable lead through the set to take the opener 25-11.
The Eagles cooled somewhat in the second set as they took a smaller lead, up 7-5 early on, but they caught fire again with kills from Anema and Devin Ross (SO/Orange, CA) to build an eight-point lead at the 15-7 mark and forced a Raiders timeout. Rivier battled back out of the timeout as they traded points, but with the sizeable lead the Raiders' 10-9 run gave the Eagles a 25-16 win in the second set.
The Raiders played much tighter in the third set as Concordia took an early lead, 7-5, but Rivier kept battling back. The Raiders stayed within two until the 13-11 mark in favor of the Eagles before taking their first lead of the contest at the 14-15 mark. Concordia responded quickly with a series of kills from Anema and Andrew Hammer (SO/San Clemente, CA) to regain a three-point lead up 19-16. The Raiders stayed within three for the remainder of the match but it wasn't enough as Timothy Moses (SO/Clovis, CA) closed out the match with a kill, giving the Eagles a sweep in the third by a 25-22 margin.
Concordia was led offensively by Anema and Moses with eight kills each – Moses edged Anema with a .429 hitting percentage. Anema and Falduti each tallied four block assists in the win and Griffin Ender (JR/Valencia, CA) anchored the back line with 10 digs, his seventh double-digit performance of the season.
The Rivier Men's Volleyball team will next play Mount Ida College in a GNAC matchup. The game is scheduled for February 25th at 7:00pm. The Eagles will next play host to Barton College on March 6th at 2:00pm.