Women's Volleyball now 25-3 with wins over Mount Ida & Simmons

(Nashua, N.H.) The Rivier University Women's Volleyball team took two important Great Northeast Athletic Conference victories today as they defeated both Mount Ida College and Simmons College in straight sets at the Muldoon Gymnasium. The wins propel the Raiders' overall record to an outstanding 25-3 and more importantly they are now 8-1 in the conference – trailing only Johnson and Wales (27-0, 9-0 GNAC) for the overall #1 seed with two conference games remaining. Simmons, who split their two matches, moves to 9-10 overall and 6-3 in the GNAC while Mount Ida falls to 7-19, 1-8 GNAC.

Game One: Rivier University 3, Mount Ida College 0 (Final)

The Raiders surged ahead in the first and never looked back as they took care of business against Mount Ida in straight sets. Rivier won each set by scores of 25-9, 25-11 and 25-18 for their seventh conference win of the season.

Junior Erin Rosa (Cumberland, R.I.) had a breakout game as she led the team with six kills and recorded a .417 hitting percentage in just two sets played. Freshman Jessica Whyte (Plymouth, Mass.) was also solid on the offensive side of the net as she had a .556 hitting percentage on five kills in her two sets of action. Senior Alley Stefanovski (Rochester, N.Y.) directed the Raiders with 24 assists and freshman Jillian Boyle (North Andover, Mass.) collected 13 digs. Senior Lauren Silverman (Chelmsford, Mass.) played in just one set but totaled four blocks and two kills.

Mount Ida was paced by junior Mary Kate Reidy's (Agawam, Mass.) five kills and 11 digs. Freshman Hanna Simpkins (Walpole, N.H.) added four kills in the straight set loss with classmate Alexis Bell (Salem, Conn.) dishing out 18 assists. Senior Molly Alkinburg (Port Deposit, Md.) was the kill leader for the Mustangs with six while providing two total blocks.

Game Two: Simmons College 3, Mount Ida College 0 (Final)

Simmons ended Mount Ida's day early as they came in and won in three straight sets by scores of 25-18, 25-20 and 25-17.

Freshman Morgan Weeg (Goodyear, Ariz.) led the offensive assault for the Sharks as she hammered down 12 kills in the win. Weeg also provided help along the back line as she collected 11 digs. Classmate Carly Wanner-Hyde (Newington, Conn.) set the offense with 28 assists and senior Alex Itasaka (Bradford, Mass.) was the dig leader with 23. Junior Amber Peterson (Las Vegas, Nev.) swung at a .357 clip with seven kills while freshman Allie Erk Thompson (Canton, Mass.) recorded two block solos.

Reidy and Alkinburg once again were the offensive leaders for the Mustangs as they combined for half of the team's total kills. Reidy was the leader with six kills while Alkinburg knocked down five. Bell registered 17 assists over the three sets with senior Alysha Dunbar (Quincy, Mass.) recording 10 digs. Reidy also collected a team high 13 digs in the loss.

Game Three: Rivier University 3, Simmons College 0 (Final)

Rivier was able to another step closer to locking up the overall #2 seed in the upcoming GNAC Tournament as they defeated Simmons College, 3-0 by scores of 25-14, 25-14 and 25-20.

The veteran duo of Silverman and senior Dana Mott (Medway, Mass.) nearly accounted for all of the Raider kills in the final match of the day. Mott finished with 13 kills and a .591 hitting percentage while Silverman was just a tick behind her at 12 kills and a .579 hitting percentage. Silverman also continued her dominance along the net as she totaled five blocks with Mott adding three of her own. Sophomore Hayley Macken (Clifton Park, N.Y.) helped guide the Rivier offense as she had 37 helpers on the afternoon and junior libero Bethany Trevino (Westminster, Colo.) collected 13 digs. Senior Molly McCormack (Ballston Lake, N.Y.) contributed with a solid match as she knocked down eight kills and eight digs.

Weeg set the tone offensively for the Sharks as she had 12 kills and Wanner-Hyde handed out 20 assists. Itasaka was the defensive leader with 11 digs in the three-set loss for Simmons.

Rivier will entertain two non-conference contests this week before finishing off the 2016 season next Saturday with a GNAC Tri-Match in Boston. On Tuesday evening, the Raiders will travel to Waltham, Mass. for a date with Brandeis University. Mount Ida will visit Salem State University on Tuesday evening as well in their next contest while Simmons will return to the court on Wednesday evening at Babson College.