Women's Volleyball earns non-conference win at Southern Maine

(Gorham, Maine) Senior setter Emily O'Reilly (San Francisco, Calif.) passed out 41 assists to lead the visiting Rivier University Raiders to a 3-0 victory (25-20, 25-22, 25-22) over the University of Southern Maine Huskies in non-conference women's volleyball action Wednesday night at the Warren Hill Gymnasium.

The win was the ninth straight for the Raiders, and improved their overall record to 9-3. The Huskies fell for the fourth consecutive match and slip to 4-7 overall.

With O'Reilly orchestrating the offense, the Raiders compiled a .391 attack percentage (48-12-92). Junior Lauren Silverman (Chelmsford, Mass.) had 15 kills and classmate Dana Mott (Medway, Mass.) added 13 more. Mott racked up an impressive .667 attack percentage (13-1-18) while Silverman had a .545 attack percentage (15-3-22). Senior Jackie Pisecco (Chelmsford, Mass.) and junior Molly McCormack (Ballston Lake, N.Y./Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake) had seven kills apiece.

For the Huskies, sophomores Jess Williamson (Goffstown, N.H.) and Mo Raymond (Sanbornton, N.H.) had strong outings Williamson had 14 kills with a 565 attack percentage (14-1-23) while Raymond swung for 11 kills with a .323 attack percentage (11-1-31). Junior Megan Nilson (Granby, Conn.) had 18 assists, three aces and seven digs, and rookie Nicole Schmitz (St. Paul, Minn./Cretin-Derham) had 10 assists. Senior Demi Ruder (Grand Junction, Colo.) had 10 digs.

Rivier took the early lead in the opening two sets and was able to keep the Huskies at bay to build a 2-0 lead. In the third set, the Huskies held a 21-19 lead before the Raiders took six of the last seven points to take the set, and the match.

Rivier will entertain Colby College and Roger Williams College in a non-conference tri-match on Saturday (11:00 a.m.). Southern Maine will host a tri-match on Saturday (12:00 p.m.) against Little East Conference foe Eastern Connecticut State University and Emmanuel College.