Women’s Volleyball Wins Five-Set Thriller at Keene St.

KEENE, N.H. – In a rematch of the season-opening match on Sept. 1, the Rivier women's volleyball team came out on top of a back-and-forth five-set affair against Keene St. on Tuesday night at Spaulding Gymnasium, downing the Owls by a score of 3-2. The Raiders won by set scores of 22-25, 25-23, 22-25, 25-16, 15-13 to advance to 5-2 on the season and win their fourth-consecutive match. Keene St. fell to 4-7 on the season.

Despite 10 tied scores in the opening set, Keene St. used four kills from Gigi Stake to propel past the Raiders and take a 1-0 advantage in the match.

Rivier bounced back in the second set in a major way after starting in a 9-0 deficit. After an Ali Rivera kill broke the scoring drought, the Raiders slowly crept back into the game and later went on a 15-5 run to close out the set and knot the match score at 1-all. Ryan Hicks recorded three of the Raiders' six aces in the frame.

Despite Rivier's .257 team hitting percentage in the third set, the hosts fended off the Raiders, 25-22. Annaliese Rudberg went a perfect three-for-three on attacks as the Owls took set three by a slim three-point margin.

With the match in jeopardy, Lily Sills took over in the fourth set for Rivier, earning five kills on seven errorless swings to hit at a .714 clip and help send the match to a fifth and final set.

The fifth frame went the distance, as the score was tied on eight occasions while the lead swung in either team's favor twice. After a Sills service error tied the score at 8-8, back-to-back kills from Rivera and Callie Nanos put Riv on top by two and forced the Owls into a timeout. After a four-point run put Keene St. up 12-10, Rivera and Sam Driend combined for consecutive kills before Rivera hammered home an ace to put the Raiders back up, 13-12, and force the Owls to burn their final timeout. From there, Driend would add two additional kills to earn the victory for the Raiders.

Sills led the way on offense with 11 kills at a .500 percentage, adding one dig. Brynne Roche hit at a .348 clip, recording nine kills, while also adding three total blocks. Kaitlyn Miller and Hicks split the setting duties, notching 20 and 19 assists, respectively. Sofia Pawlusik and Driend finished with 20 digs each.

The Raiders will return to Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) play in a home tri-match against Simmons and New England Col. on Saturday at Collignon Gymnasium.