Women's Volleyball: Dunster finishes off Emerson in fifth set

(Boston, Mass.) The Rivier University Women's Volleyball had their hands full this evening as they narrowly defeated Emerson College in a thrilling five-set match at the Brown & Plofker Gymnasium in Boston. The Raiders are now 15-8 overall with the non-conference victory while the Lions fall to 10-12.

It was a see-saw battle in which the Raiders held a 2-1 lead with an opportunity to close it out in the fourth however the Lions got the final points they needed to force a fifth and decisive set. In that fifth set, Emerson had an 11-10 lead before Rivier took five of the final seven points to earn the win.

The Raiders earned the win by set scores of 14-25, 25-19, 25-17, 23-25 and 15-13.

Sophomore Taylor Dunster (Sutton, Mass.) was outstanding on the floor for Rivier as she hammered down 15 kills, including the game-winner, and collected 10 digs. Freshman Jillian Rabasco (Nashua, N.H.) was a kill behind Dunster as she had 14 kills and a .364 hitting percentage and senior Alex Trevains (Litchfield, N.H.) added nine kills and two total blocks to lead the team. Fresh off her GNAC Player of the Week announcement, junior Hayley Macken (Clifton Park, N.Y.) had another gem of a night as she totaled 39 assists, 21 digs and 8 kills. Senior libero Bethany Trevino (Westminster, Colo.) was the dig leader with 29 and freshman Katherine Antczak (Salem, N.H.) had 11 digs of her own.

Emerson received key contributions from Albany Alexander and Fara Cohen who each led the team with 12 kills and Kelley Guerra registered 10 kills in the loss. Moira Brennan dished out 43 assists and Cohen led the defensive effort with 18 digs.

Rivier will return to Great Northeast Athletic Conference action on Thursday night as they travel to Paxton, Mass. for a date with Anna Maria College. Game time is set for 7pm.