Svorinic dishes out 45 assists, Ravens serve up nine aces

RINDGE, N.H. (November 2, 2012) – Junior middle Katie Jackson (Centennial, Colo.) led all players with a .385 attack percentage over 26 attempts and finished with a team-best 13 kills on Friday night to lead the Franklin Pierce University volleyball team to a 3-1 win over Adelphi in Northeast-10 Conference play at Franklin Pierce's Fieldhouse. Jackson led three Franklin Pierce hitters in double digits on the evening, as junior outside hitter Natasha Ray (Colorado Springs, Colo.) added 12 kills and sophomore outside hitter Catie Swiderski (Rocky Point, N.Y.) contributed 11.

With the win, Franklin Pierce improves to 16-13 (9-3 Northeast-10), while Adelphi falls to 18-10 (9-2 Northeast-10). After Adelphi took the first set, 25-21, Franklin Pierce took the next three, all tightly-contested, 25-22, 25-23 and 25-21, to win the match.

Later, after the dust settled on the rest of Friday's Northeast-10 action, the Ravens had clinched a berth in the Northeast-10 Championship. It will mark the first postseason trip for the program since the 2008 squad made the last of four straight trips to the Conference Championship, including a semifinal berth in 2005. The quarterfinal round of this year's event is scheduled for Nov. 13; each of the top four seeds will host a quarterfinal match.

Leading two sets to one and tied 15-15 in the fourth set, the Ravens found themselves in a 10-point sprint, trying to finish off the match before Adelphi could rally and force a decisive fifth set. Franklin Pierce never trailed from that point on in the set, but the Panthers hung close until Ray followed up a pair of Adelphi attack errors with a kill of her own to suddenly stake the Ravens to a three-point lead and prompt an Adelphi timeout at 21-18. However, the timeout could not turn the tide, as Swiderski served up an ace and freshman middle Lina Kleinschmidt (Santa Barbara, Calif.) put away the penultimate kill of her seven on the night to drive the lead to 23-18. Five points later, Swiderski put down a kill on Franklin Pierce's second match point to finish things off.

Jackson was the only Raven to top .300 on the night, though Swiderski finished at .265, while junior right side Ashley Bruce (Hampton Falls, N.H.) added eight more kills and hit .263 over 19 attempts. In all, five different Ravens recorded at least seven kills in the match and the team hit .203 over 153 attempts. Franklin Pierce leads the Northeast-10 in aces per set and served up nine more spread across five different players on Friday night. The offense ran primarily through the set of junior Stephanie Svorinic (Scottsdale, Ariz.), who dished out 45 assists, her third-highest total of the season.

Defensively, junior libero Lauren Miller (Alexandria, Ind.) led four players in double digits with 14 digs. Behind her, freshman defensive specialist Sarah MacHugh (Red Hook, N.Y.) added 11, while Swiderski chipped in 13 and Ray contributed 12. At the net, the Ravens picked up four blocks as a team, with Kleinschmidt factoring in on three of them (one solo).

For Adelphi, sophomore middle Kaitlyn DeStefano led the way, as she hammered out a match-best 14 kills and hit .357 over 28 attempts while doing so. She was joined in double digits by senior middle Samantha Rico (11) and sophomore outside hitter Haley Blunt (10), with both hitting over .250 as well, and Rico leading the Panthers at .381 over 21 swings. Senior outside hitters Emily Dorko and Chelsea Overholt added nine kills each, as Adelphi had five players record nine or more kills and hit .231 as a team. The Panthers worked off the set of junior Katie Bryson, who had a match-best 50 assists.

Defensively, graduate student libero Bianca Hernandez led all players with 19 digs, while Overholt and senior outside hitter Alexandra Kahen added 10 each. At the net, DeStefano completed her big night with three blocks, including a pair of solo stuffs.

The Ravens return to the court on Saturday, Nov. 3, when they remain home to host Pace in a Northeast-10 Conference match. First serve is scheduled for noon in the Fieldhouse.

For more information on Franklin Pierce Athletics, please visit the official website of Franklin Pierce Athletics (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu). Also be sure to follow the Ravens through the Department of Athletics' official Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens), its YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/franklinpiercesports) and its Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/FPUathletics). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce volleyball apparel can do so at the Department of Athletics' brand new online store (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store).