Postseason Preview: Men’s Volleyball Hosts Emerson in GNAC Quarterfinals on Tuesday

NASHUA, N.H. – After finishing 17-13 overall and with a 10-4 conference record, the Rivier men's volleyball team earned the third seed in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Tournament and will host No. 6 Emerson in the quarterfinals on Tuesday, April 9 at 7:00 p.m. at the Muldoon Center.

This will be the third matchup for the Raiders and the Lions this season, with Rivier earning wins in both prior contests.

Rivier started its campaign 1-4 in non-conference matches before going on a six-match winning streak, including three GNAC victories, beginning against Manhattanville and capping off against Dean.

From there, the Raiders would go on a three-match skid as a trip to Springfield would be the first of two ranked matchups over that span.

The team bounced back with a pair of wins at Elms before heading west for the Cal-Lu-Fornia Invitational in which it went 0-3, with two losses to ranked opponents.

After returning to play in the region, Rivier was able to put together an 8-3 (6-3 GNAC) finish to the regular-season, earning a spot in last week's NCAA Division III Region 1 rankings.

Neil Rea has led the offense from his setter position all season, helping the team to a .262 hitting percentage. Rea has notched 853 assists to this point, good for 8.95 per set. On top of his assists numbers, he has put together a .297 hitting percentage with 69 kills. From the service line, the senior has put together a team-high 40 assists. Defensively, Rea leads all starters with 1.59 digs per set while also factoring into the blocking efforts, notching .53 per set.

Chris Lezon is having a stellar senior campaign with 1.82 kills per set at a .349 clip at the middle blocker position with .86 blocks per set in his 26 matches played. Classmate and fellow middle, Ryan Peace, has posted .53 blocks per set while hitting .329 with 155 kills on the year.

At outside, graduate student Sokunbuth Ly, two seniors Isaac Borges and Ethan Soltis, and first-year Racine Camara were major contributors throughout the campaign.

Graduate student Peter White has been the team's primary libero and has a 1.22 digs per set rate as well as a .966 serve-receive percentage.

The Lions finished 6-16 overall, posting a 4-10 conference ledger. Top performers from the team include Theo Hackett, Liam Higgins, Bayden Slavik, and Ramsis De Los Santos.

Rivier is 23-0 all-time against Emerson dating back to the 2012 season. The Raiders are 11-0 on home court in matchups against the Lions and 1-0 in postseason matchups.

The winner of Tuesday night's clash will head to No. 2 seed Lasell for a semifinal-round matchup on Thursday, April 11 at 7:00 p.m.