September 23, 2006 - Rider 3 Niagara 2
September 23, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Women’s College Volleyball
Rider University 3, Niagara University 2
NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y.—Overcoming adversity. For a young team playing in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, it is a daunting task. Add playing the first road match of the conference season after a 449 mile trip, a hostile crowd and eight first-year players on the roster and you get a five-game conference win. Of course you do.
The Broncs stormed back from a two games to one deficit, defeating Niagara 3-2 in a MAAC match Saturday.
Rider (4-8, 2-1 MAAC) won by the scores of 30-26, 25-30, 24-30, 30-23, 15-9.
For the Broncs, freshman JoAnna Winter (Hamburg, Minn./Mayer Lutheran) had 44 assists and 13 digs with senior Megan Smith (Webster, N.Y./Webster) adding 13 kills and five blocks. Junior Katrina Stehle (Greensburg, Pa./Hempfield) also had 13 kills and added four blocks.
“Winning the first game was huge,” said head coach Emily Ahlquist. “Niagara came out with a lot of momentum and we needed to take that away in order for us to have a chance today. This was a total team effort. We tried some different lineups and had players jumping to other positions throughout the match. This was a good group effort.”
Rider won the first game before the Purple Eagles regrouped and won the next two.
“We let them come back and dictate the style of play in games two and three,” said Ahlquist. “We came out in game four playing the way we like to play, fast and with ball control. We regained the momentum toward the end of game four and ran with it in the fifth and deciding game.”
“This was the highest intensity we have faced this year,” said Winter. “No one person did anything out of the ordinary, it was a total team effort, if one play went against us, no one hung their head, we regrouped and went to battle for the next point.”
Sophomore Lacey Johnson (Aurora, Colo./Grandview) had a ‘double-double’ with 14 digs and 11 kills with freshman Amy Jeary (Depew, N.Y./St. Mary’s) adding 26 digs.
“Playing the MAAC matches had made this seem more real,” Winter added. “Playing the non-conference schedule got us ready but playing the conference matches had made us step up to another level. Our opponents are fighting for every point and we have to match their intensity and effort in order for the team to be successful.”
Not wanting to add any more adversity to the trip, the Broncs only have to travel another 20 miles to reach Buffalo and face Canisius at noon on Sunday.
-RU-
