Women’s Volleyball Outlasts UMass Boston in Five Sets

NASHUA, N.H. – The Rivier women's volleyball team battled to a five-set victory over UMass Boston in a Wednesday night non-conference duel at Muldoon Gymnasium, downing the Beacons by set scores of 27-25, 12-25, 25-22, 18-25, 15-9. The Raiders picked up their tenth win of the campaign and now sit at 10-6 overall, while UMass Boston fell to 10-7 on the season.

The first set was tightly contested as both teams tried to find a rhythm, with twelve tie scores and six lead changes coming in the opening frame. After facing two UMass Boston set points, Lily Sills would tie the score at 25-25 on a kill on a Ryan Hicks set, igniting a three-point swing for the Raiders to close out the set. Both Sam Driend and Ali Rivera recorded four kills apiece in the set, helping Rivier to a .214 team hitting percentage. Sofia Pawlusik registered five digs.

The visitors came away with a lopsided victory in the second set thanks to timely hitting, perfect serve reception, and multiple Rivier errors. Livia Trindade led all players with three kills while Lauren Westlund dropped in a pair of aces.

Rivier would jump out to a 20-9 lead in the third as the Beacons' offense struggled in the early stages of the set. Despite the deficit, UMass Boston continued to work their way back into contention and would later cut the score to 24-21 on a pair of Paige Coulson errors, forcing the Raiders into a timeout. Two points later, Callie Nanos would hammer home a kill to finish the set and give her team a 2-1 advantage. Once again, Pawlusik recorded five digs in the set.

With a chance to close out the match, Rivier fell behind 3-1 in the fourth quarter and would never be able to get closer than a two-point margin as the Beacons sent the match to a fifth set. Both Westlund and Taryn Broughal had three kills for UMass Boston.

The fifth set would be highly dramatic, with seven tie scores and three lead changes. Both teams traded points through the set until, tied at 9-9, Brynn Roche buried a kill to put the Raiders up one. After a Beacons attack error extended the lead to two, the visitors would call a timeout to regroup. Hicks would ace Westlund before a Rivera kill put the Raiders up by four, forcing the Beacons to burn their last timeout. A pair of errors from UMB would cap off the match on a 6-0 run for Rivier.

Rivera recorded a double-double with 20 digs and 11 kills as she handled a majority of the workload in her return to action. Driend finished with nine kills at a .194 percentage. Kaitlyn Miller and Hicks would dish out 15 and 14 assists, respectively, as the team hit at a .102 clip over five sets. Pawlusik's 19 digs and near-perfect serve-receive were instrumental for the Raiders as well.