#1 Women's Volleyball returns to the GNAC Championship

(Nashua, N.H.) The Rivier University Women's Volleyball team will once again defend their Great Northeast Athletic Conference Championship as they powered through fourth seeded Emmanuel College, 3-1 in the GNAC Semi-finals inside the Muldoon Gymnasium this evening. The Raiders took the four set match by scores of 25-12, 25-16, and 25-19.

This will be the Raiders' 12th GNAC Championship appearance over the past fourteen seasons. The Women's Volleyball program will also be trying to achieve a "three-peat" as they've won the GNAC Championship in each of the past two seasons (2013 and 2014).

Junior Lauren Silverman (Chelmsford, Mass.) continues to remain red hot as she led the team with nine kills and five total blocks. Classmate Dana Mott (Medway, Mass.) and senior Jackie Pisecco (Chelmsford, Mass.) each added eight kills with Mott registering a .462 hitting percentage. Senior Emily O'Reilly (San Francisco, Calif.) directed the offense with 31 assists while sophomore libero Bethany Trevino (Westminster, Colo.) recorded an outstanding 20 digs along the back line. Junior Molly McCormack (Ballston Lake, N.Y.) contributed seven kills, seven digs and sophomore Madison Soucy (Tolland, Conn.) collected 13 digs in the three set win.

Emmanuel was led by junior Cassie Chruscielski (Duluth, Minn.) who had six kills and seven digs. The Saints also saw junior Kaitlyn Atkinson (Brookline, N.H.) hammer down four kills and senior Shannon Dudley (Morro Bay, Calif.) dish out 13 assists. Junior Sarah Schemerhorn (Los Angeles, Calif.) totaled 10 digs to lead the defensive effort with freshman Katherine Journeay (Hampton, N.H.) adding six digs in the loss.

Emmanuel sees their 2015 season come to an end. The pre-season favorite in the GNAC Coaches Poll, the Saints finish with an overall record of 12-16 and an 8-3 conference mark.

Rivier (28-5 overall, 11-0 GNAC) will host Johnson and Wales University in the 2015 Great Northeast Athletic Conference Championship. The winner take all contest will be held on Saturday, November 7th inside the friendly confines of the Muldoon Gymnasium. Game time is slated to begin at 1pm.

JWU, the overall second seed in the GNAC Tournament, earned their second consecutive trip to the title game with a three set win over #3 Saint Joseph's College of Maine in the other GNAC Semifinal contest this evening.

This will be the sixth time that the Raiders and Wildcats have met in the GNAC Championship since 2002. Currently, the Raiders hold a 3-2 advantage over JWU in Tournament title games with all of them going at least four sets.