Men’s Volleyball Downs Curry, 3-0

NASHUA, N.H. – First-year outside hitter Cody Fitzpatrick led the Rivier men's volleyball team past Curry in straight sets with nine kills at a .350 clip in Thursday night's non-conference matchup at the Muldoon Center.

The Raiders improved to 5-7 with the victory as the Colonels fell to 4-6.

Rivier fell behind 8-3 in the early stages of the first set but rallied to take a 12-11 lead on a Curry error. Tied at 12-12, Rivier used four kills to go on a 5-0 run which separated the home team enough from the Colonels to hang on for a 1-0 match lead. Fitzpatrick had five kills in the opening frame.

The Raiders jumped out to a 9-0 lead in the second set thanks to a service run by Cade Barron which included two aces from the sophomore in that span. The Raiders led by as many as 15 as senior Bassam Awde recorded a kill to make it 20-5, helping them take a 2-0 advantage. Awde hit .400 with three kills in the set.

Early in the third, Rivier got out to an 8-1 lead, forcing the Colonels into a timeout. A kill from sophomore Racine Camara made it 14-2, giving the Raiders their largest lead of the set. Back-to-back kills from Fitzpatrick ended the match as Rivier held on to earn the sweep. The Raiders registered three blocks in the third as Curry hit -.048 in the final frame.

Rivier hit .233 as a team in the match while limiting the Colonels to a .047 attack percentage. The hosts notched 11 service aces to Curry's two. Sophomore Luis Castillo led the way with eight digs for the Raiders.

Next up, Rivier will play host to Sage in another non-conference match on Saturday, Mar. 1 with a noon start scheduled from the Muldoon Center.