Raiders Top Volleyball, 3-0

PAXTON, Mass.—The Anna Maria College women's volleyball team dropped a 3-0 decision to the Raiders of Rivier University on Wednesday evening in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) action at the Fuller Activities Center.

With the loss, the AMCATS even their record to 12-12 overall and 3-6 in GNAC play, while the win boosts the defending GNAC Champions to 19-6 overall and 6-1 in league play.

Game scores were 25-20, 25-14, and 25-18.

Rivier saw a pair of offensive players reach double-figures in kills, as Dana Mott (Medway, Mass.) racked up 11 kills and Lauren Silverman (Chelmsford, Mass.) chipped in with 10. The Raiders posted an impressive .425 hitting percentage on the evening as they totaled 45 kills and made just eight errors in 87 attempts.

Jackie Pisecco (Chelmsford, Mass.) and Jordan Donohue (Meredith, N.H.) both aided the Rivier offense with six kills. Setter Emily O'Reilly () dished out 34 assists on the evening, while libero Bethany Trevino (Westminster, Colo.) paced the defense with 11 digs. Silverman also had a strong defensive performance with six blocks.

The AMCATS were led by freshman Rebecca Foti (Bedford, N.H.) with seven kills. Junior Jessica Goulet (Lawrence, Mass.) chipped in with six, while freshman Telliah Bursie (Cheektowaga, N.Y.) finished with five.

Junior libero Brittany Jackson (Larchmont, N.Y.) totaled a team-high 11 digs, while setter Samantha Parker (Athol, Mass.) dished out 18 assists.

The AMCATS had a response for each Raider rally in the first set, as the Raiders never led by more than six points throughout the entire frame. Anna Maria fought off two game-point attempts on back-to-back attack errors by the Raiders before Donohue set down the set-winning point at 25-20.  

Anna Maria would run side-by-side with the Raiders again in the opening points of the second set. The AMCATS first four ties but were unable to take the lead and Mott served nine-straight points to open a 21-12 gap and put the game out of reach for the AMCATS.

In the third set, the Raiders took an early 10-4 lead until Goulet served six-straight points, including three service aces, to bring the AMCATS within one at 10-9. The two teams traded points and the Raiders would not lead by more than two points until Mott again rattled off a three-serve streak to open up a 17-14 gap on the way to the 25-18 win.

Anna Maria posted a .094 hitting percentage on the evening, as the team totaled 25 kills and made 17 errors on 85 attempts.

Anna Maria will be back in action on Saturday, as they travel to St. Joseph's of Maine for a double-feature with the Monks and Lasell at 1:00 and 3:00 p.m. The Raiders with take on Norwich and Albertus Magnus in New Haven, Connecticut on Saturday.