Pride Volleyball Loses Conference Contest

WESTON, Mass. – Regis College had its opportunities to at least extend its Tuesday night match against Rivier University, but the Raiders were able to pull out a 3-0 victory (25-23, 25-12, 26-24) over the Pride in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference women's volleyball match at Higgins Court.

Julia Pelland (Brockton, Mass.) led the Regis offense with seven kills, while Rita Dow (Nashua, N.H.) finished with six kills and a .308 hitting percentage. Lauren Butt (Topsfield, Mass.) earned five kills and a match-high eight total blocks, and Meg Adams (Ware, Mass.) tied her career high with 15 digs, a mark she achieved in the previous match against Norwich.

Rivier (20-7, 8-2 GNAC) scored the first five points of the match and held onto the lead throughout the opening set, although Regis did close to within one at 13-12 on a kill by Pelland. The Raiders responded by winning five of the next six points, led by four kills from Jessica Whyte, but the Pride fought back with a 5-1 run of their own to cut the Rivier lead to one at 23-22. However, two Regis service errors clinched the first set for the Raiders.

The Raiders opened the second set with a 10-3 scoring run, capped by a kill and a service ace from Taylor Dunster. After a kill by Valerie Whalen (Stoughton, Mass.) kept the Pride within striking distance, Rivier closed out the set with an 8-3 scoring stretch, taking advantage of three more Regis errors at the end.

Kills by Dow and Pelland allowed Regis to take its first lead of the match in the third set, and a service ace by Emily Fagundo (Dover, N.H.) kept the Pride on top, 7-5. Rivier responded with a 7-1 scoring run, featuring three straight service aces by Anna Campbell.

After taking timeout, Regis won the next three points, including consecutive service aces by Mica van der Meulen (Colorado Springs, Colo.). After a service ace by Taryn Higareda gave the Raiders a 17-15 lead, the Pride put together an 8-1 scoring run, capped by a kill from Butt and a service ace by Katryna Veasey (Quincy, Mass.), to pull ahead, 23-18. The Raiders were able to close out the set and the match thanks in part to three kills by Whyte, two service aces by Sydney Racevicius, and a block by Avery Pollard and Julia Zargaj on match point.

Whyte led the Raiders with 13 kills and a .526 hitting percentage, while Dunster notched a double-double with 12 kills and 10 digs, including her 1,000^th career dig late in the first set. Pollard also finished with a double-double, distributing the offense with 30 assists to go along with 11 digs and a match-high four service aces. Defensively, Higareda paced her team with 17 digs, and Racevicius contributed 11 digs to go along with seven kills.

Regis (10-17, 4-6 GNAC) plays its final road match of the regular season Thursday night, Oct. 31, heading to Providence, R.I., to face conference leader Johnson & Wales starting at 7 p.m. The Pride host a tri-match Saturday, Nov. 2, taking on Anna Maria at 11 a.m. and Salve Regina at 3 p.m. Rivier closes out its regular season by hosting Emmanuel and Albertus Magnus in a GNAC tri-match Saturday, Nov. 2.