Women's Volleyball: Zargaj powers Raiders past Emmanuel

(Nashua, N.H.) The Rivier University Women's Volleyball team took care of business this evening on home court as they swept visiting Emmanuel College in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference contest held at the Muldoon Gymnasium. With the win, the Raiders improve to 12-8 on the season and 5-2 against GNAC competition while the Saints fall to 6-14 overall, 4-3 in the GNAC.

Rivier brought home the victory by set scores of 25-17, 25-12 and 25-22.

Freshman Julia Zargaj (North Andover, Mass.) led the offense as she knocked down nine kills and a hitting percentage of .533. Classmate Emma Soucy (Dunbarton, N.H.) also had nine kills and a .471 hitting percentage with senior Alex Trevains (Litchfield, N.H.) adding nine kills of her own. Junior setter Hayley Macken (Clifton Park, N.Y.) directed the group with 35 assists and senior libero Bethany Trevino (Westminster, Colo.) picked up 19 digs. Also shining bright for Rivier was freshman Jillian Rabasco (Nashua, N.H.) who had three service aces and sophomore Taylor Dunster (Sutton, Mass.) who collected 14 digs.

Emmanuel was paced by junior Mary Shelow (Miami, Fla.), who tied the Raider trio for the game-high with nine kills to go along with her .44 hitting percentage. Classmate Casey Sheehan (Medway, Mass.) added four kills and fellow junior Carly Church (Higganum, Conn.) dished out 18 assists. Junior Katharine Journeay (Hampton, N.H.) was the team's dig leader with 15 while sophomore Marissa Cataldo (Melrose, Mass.) scooped up 10 in the loss.

Both teams will return to the floor on Saturday afternoon. The Raiders will travel to New Haven, Connecticut for a GNAC tri-match at Albertus Magnus College with Saint Joseph's College (Me.) for an 11am start time. Emmanuel will have a mixed tri-match in Providence, R.I. against conference foe Johnson & Wales University and non-conference opponent Rhode Island College.