Women’s Volleyball Completes the Comeback in Five-Set Thriller

NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Rivier women's volleyball team completed the late fifth-set comeback to take home its first Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) win of the season.

With the win, the Raiders improved to 4-5 (1-0 GNAC), while the Mariners fell to 3-4 (0-1 GNAC).

Rivier got out to an early 5-2 lead in the opening set as a result of four service points from Junior Ali Rivera. After a back in forth for most of the set, Mitchell would go on a four-point run to close out the first set.

The Raiders would come out swinging in the second, never trailing throughout. Senior Ryan Hicks would string together a service ace to take a 15-10 lead and sophomore Hannah Raab would add on another two as Rivier would string together eight of the final 10 points to close the set out 25-15.

The third set would open with both teams trading points until senior Lily Sills would break the deadlock with a service ace of her own which would be followed up by kills from senior Brynn Roche and first-year Lily Seibel to give the Raiders a 2-1 match lead.

A couple of errors and another Roche kill would keep the momentum rolling for the Raiders opening the third set with a 3-1 lead. The Mariners would not go away quietly putting together a four-point swing to give them a 15-11 lead. Seibel would ace the opposition twice late in the set to bring the score within three, but a Mitchell time-out would provide the rest the Mariners needed to force the deciding set.

Staying true to the back-and-forth theme of the match, both teams would be deadlocked at eight apiece, until a Raab ace would give the Raiders the momentum they needed to close out the match on a kill by sophomore Sam Driend.

Roche and Sills would lead the offensive efforts, with 16 and 12 kills respectively. Hicks would lead the team with 22 assists followed by Seibel's 14. Raab would go on to tally a team-high 22 digs.

The Raiders are back on the court Wednesday, Sept. 18, as they face off against recent opponents Keene St. for a non-conference matchup at the Muldoon Center. First serve is set for 7:00 p.m.