Women's Volleyball clinches top seed, sweeps both Saint Joseph's (Me.) and Mount Ida

(Newton, Mass.) The Rivier University Women's Volleyball team locked up the overall #1 seed in the upcoming Great Northeast Athletic Conference Tournament this evening as they swept their way to a pair of GNAC victories over Saint Joseph's College and Mount Ida College. The Raiders are now a perfect 10-0 in the conference and are 24-5 overall on the season. Saint Joseph's sees their record slide to 23-5, 7-3 GNAC while Mount Ida falls to 10-16, 2-7.

Rivier has now won 20 of their past 21 conference games in the regular season, including 17 in a row, dating back to the start of 2014.

Game One: Rivier University 3, Saint Joseph's College 0 (Final)

Senior Jackie Pisecco (Chelmsford, Mass.) hammered down 11 kills and juniors Lauren Silverman (Chelmsford, Mass.) and Dana Mott (Medway, Mass.) each had 10 kills as the Raiders defeated Saint Joseph's College in straight sets by scores of 25-17, 25-9 and 25-22. Senior Emily O'Reilly (San Francisco, Calif.) directed the offensive attack with 32 assists and also helped on the defensive side with 11 digs. Leading the team in that category was junior Molly McCormack (Ballston Lake, N.Y.) who collected 15. Freshman Hayley Macken (Clifton Park, N.Y.) and sophomore Bethany Trevino (Westminster, Colo.) also reached the double digit mark with 13 and 10 digs, respectively.

The Monks were paced by Felicia Wachowiak who totaled seven kills and one total block. Victoria Huntley added six kills in the loss with Mariah Hebert providing 18 assists. Shadai Gosselin and Jennelle Thompson reached the double digit mark in digs to lead the defensive effort.

Game Two: Rivier University 3, Mount Ida College 0 (Final)

Rivier carried the momentum right into the final game of the evening's GNAC tri-match as they swept host Mount Ida by scores of 25-13, 25-17 and 25-20.

Pisecco and Silverman also remained red hot in the final game as the Chelmsford duo combined for 21 of the team's 38 kills. Silverman also registered a .450 hitting percentage and a block assist. O'Reilly collected 20 assists in just two sets played and Trevino racked up 14 digs. McCormack had a solid outing with seven kills and eleven digs. Freshman Kuuipo Hoover (Dover, N.H.) added nine digs over her three sets played in the victory.

Mount Ida's Mary Kate Reidy led the team with 11 kills and Taylor Davis dished out 20 assists. Kelcey Koolman led the defense with 15 digs.

The Raiders will close out the 2015 regular season with a non-conference home match against Framingham State University on Tuesday evening before hosting Emmanuel College in the final GNAC contest on Saturday (10/31) afternoon.