Box Score The women's volleyball squad fell to Rivier by a score of 3-0 (18-25, 19-25, 19-25) in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference contest at the Wildcat Center on Saturday afternoon. The contest was part of Homecoming and Family Weekend. Seniors Kaitlin Kuntz (Boone, Iowa), Alyssa Drapeau (Biddeford, Maine), Tai Heath (Clinton, Md.), Ann Marie Nowicki (Lancaster, N.Y.) and Lauren Cordts (Amherst, N.H.) were honored in a ceremony prior to the game.
Junior Marissa Bunnewith (Millbury, Mass.) paced Johnson & Wales with nine kills while junior Kellen Tensen (New Canaan, Conn.) tallied 24 set assists and three digs in the setback. Junior Paula Cadavid (Pawtucket, R.I.) notched five kills and 13 digs while Kuntz notched a match-high 19 digs for the Wildcats.
Sophomore Dana Mott (Medway, Mass.) led the way for Rivier with 11 kills. Sophomore Molly McCormack (Ballston Lake, N.Y.) recorded seven kills and 14 digs in the victory. Junior Emily O'Reilly (San Francisco, Calif.) had 30 set assists and seven digs for the Raiders. Freshman Bethany Trevino (Westminster, Colo.) notched 17 digs in the victory.
Rivier took an early 13-7 lead in the first set after a JWU miscue. Johnson & Wales responded, however, and cut the lead to 15-13 on a kill by Bunnewith. That would be as close as the Wildcats would get, however, as Rivier closed out the set on a 10-5 run to take a 25-18 win and a 1-0 advantage in the match.
The second set had Rivier pull ahead early when a kill by Mott made the score 15-7. The Wildcats closed the gap to just six points down the stretch, but couldn't get any closer as Rivier held on for a 25-19 win and a 2-0 lead in the match.
Johnson & Wales led early in the third and deciding set after a kill by Heath made the score 10-8. The Raiders then used a 6-0 run, capped by a kill from Mott, to take the 14-12 lead. Rivier pulled away late in the set en route to the 25-19 win that capped off the victory for Rivier.
With the loss Johnson & Wales drops to 10-14 on the year and 4-2 in the GNAC while Rivier improves to 18-6 for the season and 5-1 in league play. JWU will return to action on Tuesday, October 22nd when they host intra-state rival Rhode Island College in a non-conference contest starting at 7:00 p.m.
