Women’s Volleyball Sweeps Colby-Sawyer

NEW LONDON, N.H. – Rivier women's volleyball returned to Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) action on Tuesday night and delivered its seventh conference victory of the season with a straight sweep over Colby-Sawyer on Tuesday night at the Hogan Sports Complex. The Raiders won by set scores of 25-20, 25-17, 28-26 to advance to 13-7 (7-2 GNAC) and drop the Chargers to 5-19 (3-7 GNAC).

Leading 11-8 in the first set, a pair of Ali Rivera kills followed by three Lily Sills aces made it 16-8 in favor of the Raiders, separating them from the hosts, and allowing them to take a 1-0 advantage. Kaitlyn Miller notched four digs and three assists in the opening set.

After a Sam Driend kill made it 10-7 in favor of Rivier, Colby-Sawyer called a timeout to regroup. Out of the timeout, Rivera and Sills teamed up for back-to-back kills to put the Raiders up by five. After a five-point Chargers run made it 17-16, the Raiders responded with a 6-0 run of their own, capped off by a pair of Sofia Pawlusik aces, to pull ahead for good and take a 2-0 lead in the match. Sills notched four kills at a .500 clip in the frame.

The Chargers would battle back late in the third to send the set to extra points, as a pair of clutch Ally Majenski kills gave the home team a set point at 26-25. In crunch time, Brynn Roche and Driend went back-to-back on kills to earn match point, which was won on Callie Nanos solo block.

Sills finished with 10 kills on a .533 hitting percentage, while Rivera and Roche recorded eight and seven kills, respectively. Ryan Hicks (16) and Miller (12) combined for 28 assists in the match. Pawlusik recorded a team-best eight digs in the contest, pushing her career total to 1,012.

Rivier continues its seven-match road stand with a Thursday night matchup at JWU-Providence set for 7:00 p.m. from the Wildcat Center.