WESTON, Mass. – In the first match of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference schedule for both teams, Rivier University defeated Regis College, 3-0 (25-20, 25-13, 25-6), Thursday night in a women's collegiate volleyball match at Higgins Court.
Katryna Veasey (Quincy, Mass.) led the Pride offense with five kills, while Lauren Butt (Topsfield, Mass.) finished with three kills and three total blocks and libero Caroline Fuentes (Downey, Calif.) paced the defense with eight digs. The Rivier offense was spread out, with four players collecting six kills apiece as Hayley Macken dished out 25 assists to go along with three kills, three service aces, and six digs.
In the opening set, an ace by Fuentes helped give Regis the early lead at 8-4, but Rivier took over with six unanswered points, led by Macken with a kill and a block assist. The set went back and forth until the final stretch when the Raiders closed out the set on a 6-3 scoring run, capped by consecutive kills from Taylor Dunster.
Rivier (5-4, 1-0 GNAC) maintained that momentum throughout the rest of the match, scoring five straight points early in the second set to take the lead and then finishing off the set with a 10-2 scoring run, led by two kills apiece from Sydney Racevicius and Courtney Collins.
The Raider service game took over in the third set, as Rivier notched 10 service aces on its way to completing the sweep. The visitors also received a perfect 5-for-5 attacking effort from Avery Pollard in the final set, while the Raider defense held the Pride to three kills in the third set, two of them by Julia Pelland (Brockton, Mass.).
Regis (3-4, 0-1 GNAC) continues its stretch of home contests with a tri-match Saturday, Sept. 15, starting at 11 a.m. against Dean followed by a match against Curry at 3 p.m. Rivier brings its four-match winning streak into a home tri-match of its own Saturday, welcoming Roger Williams and Westfield State for a series of contests starting at 11 a.m.