Men’s Volleyball Falls to No. 11 Wentworth and Regis (Mass.) in GNAC Tri-Match

WESTON, Mass. – The Rivier men's volleyball team competed in a Saturday Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) tri-match at Higgins Court, falling to No. 11 Wentworth in straight sets before dropping a match to the hosts, Regis (Mass.), in four sets.

The Raiders lost to the nationally ranked Leopards by scores of 22-25, 22-25, 20-25 before losing to the Pride by scores of 18-25, 25-19, 25-25, 25-25 to move to 9-14 (4-7 GNAC).

Rivier returns home on Tuesday, April 1 for a GNAC showdown with Elms at 7:00 p.m. at the Muldoon Center.

No. 11 Wentworth 3, Rivier 0

The Leopards survived a first set in which the Raiders threatened by tying the score up on several occasions until an Andrew Ahn kill gave Wentworth the lead for good. Rivier fought hard to fall just 25-22, hitting .259 as a team as senior Bassam Awde notched four kills at a .429 clip. Sophomore Tyler Dickinson recorded three kills at a .750 percentage.

Rivier kept it close again in the second with a tied score of 21-21 late in the set following a Wentworth error. The Leopards used kills from Sam Etter and Conner Foxwell and a Rivier error to close the set and take a 2-0 lead. Four aces for the Raiders helped keep things close, but the team was only able to secure eight kills in the second.

Trailing 20-11 in the third, Rivier made a comeback bid out of the break, piecing together a 9-4 run to make it 24-20. A Rivier service error stopped the momentum and secured the win for the Leopards.

Dickinson hit .800 with eight kills on 10 swings in the setback. Classmate Luis Castillo posted 10 digs.

Regis (Mass.) 3, Rivier 1

Despite hitting .303 with 14 kills in the first set, Rivier fell behind, dropping the opening set 25-18. Junior Matthew McCloskey had four kills on 11 errorless attempts in the frame.

The Raiders took the second, 25-19, after surviving a set which featured 13 tie scores and seven lead changes. The final lead change came when a McCloskey kill made it 19-18 in favor of Rivier, jumpstarting a 7-1 run to close out the set. McCloskey yet again notched four kills in the set.

Rivier dropped the third and fourth sets, allowing Regis to hit .310 and .281 in those sets, respectively.