November 16, 2006 - Iona 3 Rider 0 (MAAC's)
November 16, 2006
FOR IMEMDIATE RELEASE
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference
Volleyball Championships / Smith All-MAAC Honors
#9 Iona College 3, #8 Rider University 0
Opening Round
Orlando, Fla.—That’s why they play the match. On paper, Rider looked like it would have a win locked up, having defeated Iona twice by 3-0 scores during the regular season. So much for those results. The Gaels turned the tables on the Broncs and defeated Rider in three straight games on Thursday in the opening round of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championship at Disney’s Wide World of Sports in Orlando, Florida.
Iona won 30-28, 30-21, 30-22.
“Well at least the weather was good because we weren’t,” said head coach Emily Ahlquist. “We came out very tentative and Iona came out firing on all cylinders. Iona is very good and went after every shot. We didn’t counter it. I’m not sure if we were nervous or what the issue was.”
For Rider (8-20), junior Katrina Stehle (Greensburg, Pa./Hempfield) had 17 digs and seven kills with sophomore Lacey Johnson (Aurora, Colo./Grandview) adding 15 digs and seven kills.
“We finally started playing better toward the end of game one,” Ahlquist added. “But we made two mental mistakes at the end and lost the game by two and never really came back after that.”
Freshman JoAnna Winter (Hamburg, Minn./Mayer Lutheran) had 27 assists and 12 digs with freshman Amy Jeary (Depew, N.Y./St. Mary’s) adding 11 digs.
“We played Iona last Saturday, only five days ago,” said Ahlquist. “And we didn’t play anything like we did last week. Iona made the adjustments that they needed to and we didn’t and that was one of my concerns coming into the match. Our timing was way off. You need to step up to the challenge to beat a team three times and we didn’t.”
Senior Megan Smith (Webster, N.Y./Webster), who was awarded All-MAAC second-team honors earlier in the day had 12 kills.
The Broncs will now play in the consolation round on Friday at 11:00am against Saint Peter's. Number seven seeded Saint Peter's defeated number 10 Niagara 3-2 on Thursday afternoon before falling to number two Siena 3-0 on Thursday night. The Peahens defeated Rider twice during the regular season. The winner of the Rider-Saint Peter's match will play again at 1:30pm on Friday.
“There’s a pride thing that comes into play,” Ahlquist said. “We didn’t work these last three months to go home in two matches and I expect that we will come out with the intensity and urgency needed to keep the season going.”
-RU-
