Men's Volleyball: Rivier powers past Emerson in straight sets

(Nashua, N.H.) The Rivier University Men's Volleyball team returned to Great Northeast Athletic Conference action this evening as they defeated visiting Emerson College in straight sets inside the Muldoon Gymnasium. The win improves the Raiders' overall record to 12-8 and 3-1 in the conference while the Lions fall to 6-7 and 0-3 in the GNAC.

Senior Ian Wolski (Westfield, Mass.) paced the offensive assault as he registered 12 kills and a .545 hitting percentage in his two sets played. Classmate Tyler Blank (Rochester, N.Y.) returned to action this evening and dished out 25 assists in two sets played with fellow senior Matt LaSance (Madison, Conn.) handing out 13 assists in the only set he saw action in. Junior libero Garrett Bucklin (Jamestown, R.I.) totaled 12 digs and freshman John Equitani (Coventry, R.I.) recorded a team-high three total blocks.

Emerson was guided by sophomore Win Kittivatcharapon (Bangkok, Thailand) who hammered down ten kills and totaled four blocks. Junior Nick Rusk (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) handed out 25 helpers while freshman Carl D'Aguiar (Tujunga, Calif.) collected nine digs. Sophomore Mark Piorkowski (Montclair, N.J.) played well for the Lions as he accumulated nine kills and a .400 hitting percentage.

Rivier will remain in conference competition when they return to the court on Saturday as they welcome both Mount Ida College and Emmanuel College to the Muldoon for a GNAC Tri-Match. The Raiders will square off with Mount Ida in the opener at 11am before closing out the afternoon with a 3pm contest against Emmanuel.