October 16, 2006 - Canisius 3 Rider 2
October 16, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
College Volleyball
Canisius College 3, Rider University 2
LAWRENCEVILLE—If you got wins for heart and desire, the Broncs would have been victorious on Monday. As it was, Rider lost a two-hour marathon Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference match to Canisius in five games.
The Golden Griffs won 30-19, 25-30, 29-31, 30-24, 15-10 with every point a protracted contested battle after Canisius swept the Broncs in three straight games less than a month ago.
“I think both teams have improved tremendously,” said head coach Emily Ahlquist. “That’s the great thing about the double round robin schedule in the MAAC is you can see the return match as a measuring stick and quantify how far you have improved.”
For Rider (7-12, 5-5 MAAC), senior Megan Smith (Webster, N.Y./Webster) had 20 kills, 10 digs and six blocks with sophomore Lacey Johnson (Aurora, Colo./Grandview) posting her fourth ‘double-double’ in a row with 25 digs and 11 kills.
“I think we should have won the match,” said Smith. “We got a little tight at the end but it is a long way from the way we played at Canisius last month. No one played very well the first time and tonight was a team effort. Everyone had a good solid match but we could not finish at the end. We were pushing hard and we are a young team and have not faced that type of pressure situation.”
The Golden Griffs have won five straight and nine of their last 10 matches.
Canisius (15-7, 9-2 MAAC) jumped out fast, winning game one 30-19 with an 80 percent side-out effort. The Broncs rebounded, taking game two 30-25 in a game that saw six ties and four lead changes.
In the third game which lasted 30 minutes and saw 13 ties and six lead changes, Rider held on for a 31-29 win. Game four saw the Golden Griffs bounce back with a 30-24 win after battling through six ties and two lead changes.
The fifth and deciding game saw Canisius build a 7-3 lead. Rider went on a 7-3 run to tie the score at 10 before the Golden Griffs finished the match with a 5-0 run.
“We need to work on being in stressful situations and how we react,” Ahlquist added. “With a young team, playing a fifth game, against a highly skilled team like Canisius is going to make us mentally stronger as we head toward the end of the season and the conference playoffs.”
Freshman JoAnna Winter (Hamburg, Minn./Mayer Lutheran) had 51 assists and 25 digs, freshman Amy Jeary (Depew, N.Y./St. Mary’s) had 22 digs and freshman Alex Chapla (Aliquippa, Pa./Center Area) had 14 kills and seven blocks.
“Canisius is up there in the conference and we just took them to five games,” Smith added. “I definitely see the gap closing between Rider and the top of the league. We see the opportunity to do well in the next eight matches and carry that through to MAAC’s. It’s right there for us.”
“Volleyball is all about momentum and games one through four were evenly matched,” said Ahlquist. “A couple of plays here and there and the match could have turned out different. Canisius is a very good senior laden team and I am very pleased with our overall play. Yes, I would have loved to get the ‘W’ but I think in our progress toward the conference championships, we have taken a huge leap with our effort tonight.”
Seven of the ten Rider players posted double-digits in digs as the Broncs had 136 digs as a team. As of October 8, Rider ranked fifth in the nation, averaging 19.73 digs per game.
“A huge thing for any team is to be able to put people in different positions and have the confidence that they will do the job,” said Ahlquist. “We can use different players to disguise our offense and defenses that way and it also keeps the players fresh on the floor.”
Rider travels to Manhattan on Friday night for a MAAC match, the first of six in a row away from Alumni Gym over the next three weekends. The Broncs have split each of the first five weekends in MAAC play.
“I expect for everyone to play hard,” said Smith. “We’ve played well on the road and at home so that won’t make a huge difference for us, the big factor is that if everyone plays as hard as they can, as hard as they did tonight, we will be successful.”
“The way the schedule fell, it will work out for us,” said Ahlquist. “I do like playing on the road, the team bonds more, we eat together, study together and do everything as a cohesive unit and that is part of building a stronger team. It’s a little easier on everyone, we just have to show up and concentrate on playing, we don’t have to handle anything else but volleyball so it kind of condenses the things that the players have to worry about and lets them focus a little more.”
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