Women's Volleyball: Raiders return to GNAC Championship

(Nashua, N.H.) The second seeded Rivier University Women's Volleyball team has advanced to the Great Northeast Athletic Conference Championship game on Saturday afternoon with a four-set win over visiting Colby-Sawyer College, the tournament's overall #3 seed, this evening in a semi-final contest at the Muldoon Gymnasium. The win moves the Raiders to 27-6 on the year while securing their 14th trip to the conference finals since 2002. The Chargers' first season as a member of the GNAC comes to an end with a 21-11 overall record.

Rivier earned the victory by set scores of 21-25, 25-18, 25-17 and 25-15.

Graduate Courtney Collins (Litchfield, N.H.) once again led the Raiders as she recorded a .407 hitting percentage with a team-high 15 kills and four total blocks. Junior Jessica Whyte (Plymouth, Mass.) was just as dominate as she contributed with a 13-kill, .647 hitting percentage effort with three total blocks. Senior setter Hayley Macken (Clifton Park, N.Y.) directed the Raider offense with 44 assists while freshman Avery Pollard (Ballston Lake, N.Y.) paced the backline with 12 digs. Junior Taylor Dunster (Sutton, Mass.) finished a dig shy of a double-double as she totaled 10 kills and 9 digs. Senior Taylor White (Dunstable, Mass.) and freshman Sydney Racevicius (Woodbury, Conn.) each collected 11 digs in the win.

Freshman Maddie Bromley (Truckee, Calif.) was the overall points leader for Colby-Sawyer as she hammered down 10 digs and senior Courtney Murray (Quincy, Mass.) registered a .444 hitting percentage on nine kills. Freshman Anna Allen (Los Angeles, Calif.) dished out 28 helpers and scooped up 11 digs on the night while junior Morgan Flynn (Reading, Mass.) guided the defensive effort with 15 digs. Senior Nicole Olivieri (Salem, N.H.) picked up a dig and a service ace in the final game of the season for the Chargers.

Rivier will travel to the tournament top-seed Johnson & Wales University (R.I.) for the GNAC Championship game on Saturday afternoon. JWU, who is also the #2 team in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association Top-25 poll, has won the conference title in each of the last three seasons. This will be the eighth time that the Raiders and Wildcats have battled for the GNAC title with JWU holding a 4-3 lead. Game time is set for 1pm with live stats and video available at www.rivierathletics.com.