August 25, 2006 - Colgate 3 Rider 1
August 25, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
College Volleyball - Colgate Classic
Colgate University 3, Rider University 1
HAMILTON, N.Y.--Hanging tough. Faced with eight 'new kids' on the team, the first match of the year, being on the road and with Colgate jumping out to a game one 15-6 lead, the Broncs rallied, giving the host Raiders all they could handle, before falling to Colgate 3-1 in the opening match of the Colgate Classic Friday night.
Colgate defeated Rider in four games, 30-22, 21-30, 31-29, 30-21.
“The first game was just first match, first game of the year jitters,” said head coach Emily Ahlquist who is in her eighth season at Rider. “You have to remember, we have eight new kids and four of them played tonight so you have to account for the youth a little bit. After the first game, they were fine.”
In the second game, Rider (0-1) jumped out to a 9-2 lead, scoring a 30-21 win, behind a .441 attack percentage, tying the match at one. Freshman setter JoAnna Winter (Hamburg, Minn./Mayer Lutheran) had nine assists in the game to lead the Broncs and finished with 43 assists, eight digs and two blocks. Sophomore Lacey Johnson (Aurora, Colo./Grandview) had six kills in game two game, enroute to a career-high 18 kills in the match. Johnson also had 10 digs for her sixth career ‘double-double’.
“Our passing improved in the second game and we were able to move more into our offense,” Ahlquist added. “JoAnna’s set choices were incredible so we were able to terminate the ball on almost every play. Our blocking overall also keyed that win, from Megan [Smith] and Brittany [Hayes].” Smith, a senior from Webster, New York, finished with two blocks, along with 12 kills with the freshman Hayes (Mitchelleville, Md./Elizabeth Seton) adding five blocks.
“I didn’t know what to expect in my first collegiate match,” said Winter who is majoring in sociology at Rider. “Even though it was a whole bunch of new faces, I think we came out and played well together. It was an awesome experience tonight and the more we play together, the more we will improve. Tomorrow, we expect to see a huge improvement over tonight. The mistakes we made are all correctable and we feel that as we gel and play together more, the offense will become faster and our level of play will get better.”
In the third game, the Broncs rallied from a 25-22 deficit to take a 26-25 lead before Colgate won the final three points of the match to win 31-29. The game saw 19 ties and 10 lead changes as neither team was able to lead by more than two points.
“Anytime you can get that back and forth, high stress situation, you are only going to improve,” Ahlquist said. “To have a close match the entire time, especially in the third game that will only help us later in the season. This whole tournament is going to be like that because everyone we play [Colgate, UMBC and La Salle] is a high quality opponent and that’s what is going to make us better.”
The fourth and final game saw Rider put up a valiant effort before falling 30-21.
Also for the Broncs, sophomore Lindsay Brant (Long Beach, N.Y./Long Beach) added 13 digs and three service aces.
“We will continue to play better as we play together more,” Ahlquist added. “We just have to battle as a group, learn from our errors and build momentum as we head toward the conference season.”
In other tournament action, the University of Maryland-Baltimore County (UMBC) defeated La Salle University 3-0.
The Broncs will have to continue to hang tough with the next match being less than 12 hours away. Rider faces UMBC at 10am on Saturday, followed by La Salle at 4pm to conclude the tournament.
-RU-
