September 16, 2006 - Fairfield 3 Rider 1
September 16, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
College Volleyball
Fairfield University 3, Rider University 1
LAWRENCEVILLE—Facing a team that gets their hands on everything, the Broncs got one handed to them on Saturday, losing to Fairfield in four games in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference match.
“Good teams touch every ball and Fairfield (4-6, 1-0 MAAC) is a good team,” said head coach Emily Ahlquist. “When you are facing a team as athletic as they are, you have to try different things because they get to everything and if they don’t actually block the play, they alter what you are trying to do. We were just trying to find holes and keep them on the run and when we did that, we had success.”
The Stags defeated Rider (3-8, 1-1 MAAC) 30-13, 30-19, 25-30, 30-24, posting 14 blocks on the day.
“I was happy with our starting effort and I was happy with the effort in games three and four,” Ahlquist added. “The end of game one and all of game two, we didn’t do the things that have made us successful and that is pass better and communicate. The overall effort wasn’t very good in those areas. We didn’t adjust well early in the match.”
Rider jumped out to a 4-0 game one lead before Fairfield got it going, ending the opening game on a 13-1 run.
In the second game, the momentum carried over with the Stags building a 15-10 lead, ending game two with a late 8-2 run.
In the third game, which saw nine ties and four lead changes, Rider used a late 4-0 run to build a 25-21 lead, holding on for the 30-25 win.
“I think in the third game especially, we came out with a lot of energy and played with more of a purpose and communicated better,” said sophomore Lacey Johnson (Aurora, Colo./Grandview) who had 18 digs and eight kills in the match. “We covered the court better toward the end of the match.”
In the fourth game, the Stags took over blocking six shots, winning 30-24. With the score tied at 13, the Stags went on a 9-1 run opening up a 22-14 lead.
“It was very frustrating for all the hitters,” Johnson added. “Fairfield is very good and they play really good defense.”
Junior Katrina Stehle (Greensburg, Pa./Hempfield) posted her second ‘double-double’ of the weekend with 21 digs and 10 kills. Stehle had 16 digs and 11 kills in Rider’s 3-1 victory over Manhattan Friday night.
Freshman JoAnna Winter (Hamburg, Minn./Mayer Lutheran) had 32 assists and 11 digs, with fellow rookie Amy Jeary (Depew, N.Y./St. Mary’s) adding 22 kills.
“I can take nothing away from Fairfield,” Ahlquist added. “They are very good and we are looking forward to playing them again later in the season because I think it will be a good bench mark to see how far we have come as a team, compared to how we played today.”
For those planning ahead, the rematch is November 3 in Fairfield, Connecticut.
After playing three matches in four days, one might have thought that fatigue would have affected the team.
“We are in good shape so I wasn’t really concerned that this was our third match in four days,” Ahlquist added. “We need as much court time as we can get to make us a better team. And the MAAC post season tournament is four straight days of matches so by the end of the season, we’ll be used to overcoming the fatigue of playing a lot of matches in a short amount of time.”
“I’m not sure we were tired,” Johnson said. “Playing three matches in four days is tough but we were home and Fairfield was the one on the road so I don’t think fatigue was a factor. Fairfield has a way of making you not look too good on some plays because they are very talented, very athletic and because of that, they get you out of the rhythm of what you are trying to do.”
The Broncs do the ‘off to Buffalo’ this coming weekend, facing the Purple Eagles on Saturday and the Golden Griffs on Sunday.
“I think we are headed in the right direction,” Johnson added. “We played well Friday night against Manhattan and we played well in spots today against a solid team so I think we are going to make some noise in the conference as we head north to play Niagara and Canisius.”
-RU-
