Women’s Volleyball Opens Up GNAC Play with Wins Over Dean and Mitchell

NASHUA, N.H. – Rivier women's volleyball kicked off their Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) schedule with two wins in a Saturday tri-match at Collignon Gymnasium, downing Dean in straight sets before fending off Mitchell in four.

The Raiders won by set scores of 25-19, 25-10, 25-13 over the Bulldogs before downing the Mariners 22-25, 25-14, 26-24, 25-19 to get out to a 4-2 overall record to begin the season.

Rivier will return to play in a non-conference mid-week matchup at Keene St. on Tuesday, Sept. 19 at 7:00 p.m. In the first meeting between the Raiders and Owls in the opening weekend of the season, Rivier took care of Keene St. in sweep fashion.

Rivier 3, Dean 0

The Raiders got out to a 6-0 start in set one and never let it get closer than a four-point advantage as the home team took the first set 25-19. Brynn Roche was the star of the opening frame, recording four kills at a .500 clip as Rivier hit .269 as a team.

Rivier once again jumped out to a substantial lead in the second set and never looked back as Ryan Hicks dished out nine assists to help the Raiders take a 2-0 lead.

The Bulldogs started the third set out strong, leading 7-3 in the early going. After tying things up at 10-all, Rivier was able to outscore Dean 15-3 over the remainder of the set to earn the sweep.

Hicks finished with 22 assists as the team hit at a season-high percentage of .282. Roche led the way for all hitters and blockers, recording a team-best eight kills at a .429 clip while adding a solo block and three block assists. Kaitlyn Miller was tremendous from the service line, dropping in four of the team's aces in the match. Sofia Pawlusik led the digs category for all Raiders with 12.

Rivier 3, Mitchell 1

In the final match of the day, Mitchell used two kills from three different players and four aces to snag a 25-22 set one victory over its hosts to begin the match in the driver's seat.

Rivier led from the opening point and never allowed the Mariners to tie it up as the Raiders cruised to a 25-14 win to knot the match up at 1-1. The Raiders had an offensive explosion in the frame, hitting .440 as a team fueled by Roche's three kills on four errorless swings (.750) and Ali Rivera's three kills on six errorless attacks (.500) to swing the momentum back in their favor.

There were seven tie scores and four lead changes in a back-and-forth third set, but the Raiders were able to steal a 26-24 win using a late surge. Trailing 10-5, Riv used its first timeout of the set to regroup before later regaining its first lead since 1-0 at 18-17. After blowing a two-point lead and trailing 22-20, the Raiders were forced into their final timeout. Out of the timeout, Hicks and Rivera recorded back-to-back kills to re-tie the score. Later, at set point for Mitchell, Roche tied things up at 24-all before a bad set for the Mariners pushed it to set point for the hosts. A final attack error from Mitchell would close out the set, giving Rivier a 2-1 lead heading into the fourth.

The Raiders would not be denied in the fourth, going up leading for the majority of the match before a Rivera service ace would clinch the win and extend the team to a three-game winning streak.

Lily Sills finished as the leader in kills with nine, hitting at a .400 clip. Hicks kept up her strong day at setter, notching 36 assists in the triumph. Pawlusik once again took the brunt of the defensive duties, digging 22 Mariner attacks. Rivera posted a double-double with 11 kills and 13 digs, with Sam Driend close behind her with eight kills and 12 digs to her credit.