College Volleyball
2010 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championship Tournament
Second/Third Round-Consolations
#10 Rider University 3, #9 Saint Peter's College 1
#4 Manhattan College 3, #10 Rider University 2
Nine Broncs MAAC All-Academic Honors
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla.--The Rider University volleyball team pulled off its second upset in the last two days at the 2010 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference volleyball championships, defeating ninth seed Saint Peter's College Friday morning at ESPNs Wide World of Sports in Florida before the magical run ended with a five-set loss to fourth seeded Manhattan College.
Rider won 19-25, 25-19, 25-21, 25-20 over the Peahens and led two sets to none over Manhattan before losing to the Jaspers 27-25, 25-23, 16-25, 13-25, 11-15 to finish the season 5-27.
"The Saint Peter's match was good," said head coach Emily Ahlquist. "We started a little slow with all of the emotion of two matches yesterday. But we fought and kept fighting and fighting until we got some rhythm."
For the Broncs against the Peahens, senior Katelyn Thompson (Tucson, Ariz./Catalina Foothills) led three players in double-digit kills with 13. Senior Kristy Love (Pittsford, N.Y./Pittsford Sutherland) and Stephanie Nagy (Muscatine, Iowa/Muscatine) each added 10 kills with Love hitting .588 while compiling 12 digs for the match to go along with five blocks.
"Kristy raised her level of play," Ahlquist said about Love's performance over the last month of the season. "She took it upon her shoulders and said 'follow me' and her teammates responded."
Senior Amanda Piccolini (St. Clairsville, Ohio/St. Clairsville) had 41 assists and 10 digs with senior Elyse Grassmuck (San Antonio, Texas/La Vernia) compiling 20 digs against the Peahens. Including 44 assists against Manhattan, Piccolini finished her career with 2,485 assists, third highest all-time at Rider.
For Rider against Manhattan, Nagy had 11 kills and five blocks with Love adding 10 kills, five blocks and four digs.
"Four matches in about 30 hours, we just left everything we had out on the court," Ahlquist said. "We are proud of what they accomplished."
Graduate student Alex Chapla (Aliquippa, Pa./Center Area) led the way against the Jaspers with 12 kills and four blocks, hitting .312 in the match.
"Alex had a great match hitting and blocking," Ahlquist said. "And Katelyn Thompson did a nice job communicating, passing and playing defense."
Thompson had eight kills against Manhattan, finishing with 992 in her career.
After winning only one MAAC playoff match since joining the conference in 1997, Rider won twice in the last two days, defeating seventh seed Marist 3-0 on Thursday before falling to the second seeded Iona Gaels 3-1 in the quarterfinals.
"It was a team effort," said Ahlquist. "We are not a team that has one traditional go to player. We are a total group of 14 players. From the players on the bench that communicate with the players on the court to the player that gets that kill or ace, everyone is equally important to our success. It takes everyone to win a match. The contributions can't just be measured in statistics, it was players covering, communicating or going after the ball."
Rider lost at Saint Peter's 3-0 on October 10 before defeating the Peahens in Alumni Gym 3-0 on November 6. The Broncs have won 14 of the 34 matches in the all-time series against Saint Peter's.
The Jaspers defeated the Broncs 3-2 in Lawrenceville earlier this season and 3-0 in Riverdale, New York on November 7. Manhattan leads the all-time series 21-4. Rider has not defeated Manhattan since the 2004 season.
Rider did lead the conference in one important category this season with the most All-Academic team members of the 10 schools in the MAAC.
Sophomore Brittany Gajewski (Whitehouse Station) has a 3.90 grade point average as a Secondary Education/History major, sophomore Stephanie Nagy (Muscatine, Iowa) has a 3.80 g.p.a. as a Biology major and sophomore Haley Wilson (Williamsburg, Iowa) has a 3.70 grade point average as a Secondary Education/History major.
Graduate student Alex Chapla has a 3.60 grade point average as an Accounting major, senior Katelyn Thompson (Tucson, Arizona) has a 3.40 g.p.a. as an Elementary Education/Psychology major, sophomore Briana Wallace (Massapequa, N.Y.) has a grade point average of 3.40 as a Global Business major, senior Elyse Grassmuck (San Antonio, Texas) has a 3.30 g.p.a. as a Global Business major, senior Kristy Love (Pittsford, N.Y.) is a Liberal Arts major with a 3.20 grade point average and junior Camellia Kuban (Swedesboro, N.J.) is a Communication major with a 3.20 grade point average.
Rider returns nine letterwinners to the squad in 2011.
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