Men's Volleyball edge Saints 3-2

(Boston, Mass.) The Rivier Men's Volleyball team defeated the Emmanuel College Saints on the road this afternoon at Jean Yawkey Center by the score of 3 sets to 2. With the win, the Raiders improve their season record to 15-9 with an impressive (10-1 GNAC) record. As for the Saints, they drop their season record to 7-10 (5-6 GNAC).

This was an extremely close and competitive matchup for the Raiders. Not only were they on the road, but they were also playing their second game of the day.  Playing somewhat fatigued, the Raiders, with an upset minded Saints group on the other side of the net, needed to dig deep to pull out the victory in the 5^th and final set.

Despite the much better overall and GNAC record, the Raiders were played uncharacteristically tough by the Saints. Perhaps it was the support of the home crowd that led the Saints to give the Raiders such a tough fight. The first set began with a very close affair. The Raiders, with some great team work and communication, slipped past the pesky Saint squad by the score of 25-23. Although the going was tough, the Raiders, with their veteran-like experience, were able to find a way to win when most other clubs would have folded under the pressure.

The second set was just as exciting as the first. Again, like the first set, the Raiders were able to slip past the Saints by the score of 25-19. Although the score was not as close as the first set, the Saints were still playing the Raiders very tough. With seemingly all of the momentum, and a nice 2 set to 0 lead, it looked as if the Raiders were going to be heading home early with the victory. Unfortunately for the Raiders however, the Saints had a much different plan.

Using a 25-22 set victory in the third set, and a 25-20 set victory in the fourth, the Raiders, who had complete control of this contest, faced the risk of potentially letting the game fall out of their hands. Heading into the final set tied 2-2, both teams needed to rally their forces and give everything they had left to take home the victory. Luckily for the Raiders, who as a unit, have been through many of these situations before, rallied their efforts and stole the victory by the score of 15-11.

Rivier had excellent performances turned in by Chris Markuson (Cupertino, Calif.) who was able to drill home an outstanding 24 kills in the match. Sam Kazlas (Allentown, Pa.) also played well for the Raiders as he was able to add an additional 10 kills to Rivier's tally. Matt Tutino (Manorville, N.Y.) recorded 13 kills while teammate Tyler Blank (Rochester, N.Y.) was able to put together a great game tallying an incredible 58 assists.