WEST CHESTER, Pa. (September 1, 2017) – Following an appearance in the Northeast-10 Conference Tournament last year, the Franklin Pierce University volleyball team began their 2017 slate of games this afternoon on the road at Ramfest 2017 hosted by West Chester University. The Ravens split their first two matches of the season as they were swept by host West Chester University 3-1 (20-25, 17-25, 17-25), but then rebounded to sweep Bowie State University 3-0 (25-12, 25-19, 25-16). Through the two contests, the crimson and grey are 1-1 on the year.

Danielle Varricchio (Boynton Beach, Fla.) led the Ravens attack with a two game total of 20 kills and 18 digs. Team captain and senior middle blocker Hannah St. Jean (Olympia, Wash.) racked up 15 kills, four total blocks and a .333 hitting percentage. Classmate Hannah Runge (Deltona, Fla.) doled out 42 assists while adding nine digs and defensive specialist Brittney Carias (Burlingame, Calif.) recorded 26 digs.

Game One: West Chester 3, Franklin Pierce 0 (20-25, 17-25, 17-25)

Franklin Pierce started off the firsts set fast as they jumped out ahead 5-2 due to a kill by St. Jean. West Chester rattled off five straight points to gain their first lead of the contest at 7-5. The squads traded blows before setter Hannah Runge dished out one of her team-high 16 assists to defensive specialist Brittney Carias who converted the kill to knot the score at nine all. A 5-1 mini-run by the hosts pushed them ahead 14-10 as Karleigh Lutz notched a kill as FPU stopped play with a timeout. The Golden Rams continued their strong play by moving ahead 23-15 until the Ravens contributed five more points to come within three due to a WCU service error. Two consecutive attack errors doomed FPU as the crimson and grey dropped set one 25-20.

West Chester began the second set by moving in front 6-2 as Jillian Grammer tallied a service ace. Down four, the Ravens rebounded to pull within two, 12-10, as St. Jean slammed a kill onto the home team's side of the court and the Golden Rams committed two attack errors with Jocelyn Moody (Biddeford, Maine) serving. Holding a two point advantage, West Chester rattled off six of the next eight points to push ahead 18-12 which led to a Raven stoppage. Following the timeout, Grammer continued her strong service by setting the ball twice to Rachel Robb and once to Lutz which grew the hosts lead to 21-12. Three straight from the Ravens, which included a Varricchio block at the net cut the deficit to 21-15. Franklin Pierce would add two more points to their score, but a dual block by Allie Duffy and Robb won the set for West Chester 25-17.

The third set was a back and forth duel that saw numerous led changes in the early going. FPU led 9-7 after a Varricchio kill until another scoring binge (7-1) by West Chester caused the Ravens to take their first timeout of the third set. Trailing by four, the Ravens looked to decrease the deficit, but the Golden Rams built their lead to seven, 20-13 on another Lutz kill. Franklin Pierce drew within three with freshman Ofeira Petaia (Honolulu, Hawaii) serving as she dropped in an ace and Varricchio came up with two kills to make the score 20-17 in favor of the Golden Rams. WCU wrapped up the game by tallying five in a row to complete the sweep of the Ravens.

Varricchio led the Ravens with 10 kills, nine digs two assists, one block and a .320 hitting percentage. St. Jean added six kills and one block. Runge handed out 16 assists while adding five digs, one service ace and one kill.

Game Two: Franklin Pierce 3, Bowie State 0 (25-12, 25-19, 25-16)

Varricchio paced the Ravens attack in the second game of their twinbill with another 10 kill, nine dig effort. Hannah St. Jean chipped in nine kills, three total blocks and two digs while hitting .643 over the three sets. Abigail Garnhart (Colorado Springs, Colo.) racked up seven kills and a .364 hitting percentage while Hannah Runge dished 26 helpers to her teammates.

As a team, Franklin Pierce racked up 10 service aces to their opponents eight and outhit them .222 to -.047 over the course of the match.

The Ravens never trailed in set one, but were tied at 3-3 following an attack error. Once the contest was knotted up, FPU used two different runs to separate themselves from the Bulldogs. Moody and Varricchio teamed up for a kill to break the deadlock at 4-3 then with Carias serving, the Ravens racked up four points in a row to move ahead 8-3 following another kill from Varricchio. Both teams swapped possessions and then the designated home team put the set on ice with six consecutive markers with Varricchio serving.

In set two, the Bulldogs held an early 1-0 lead after a Raven attack error, but Franklin Pierce recorded four straight points to gain the early advantage. Garnhart upped the lead to 10-4 by successfully killing a set from freshman Mary Pease (East Haddam, Conn.). Bowie State hung around as they outscored the Ravens 7-1 over the next eight serves as an Oladia Menchada ace tied up the contest at 11 all. The unrelenting game of runs kept moving forward as the Ravens captured the momentum back with Runge serving which moved FPU ahead 15-11. A service error and two kills from Brianna Myers brought the Bulldogs within two at 16-14, but that was the closest they would come the rest of the way as a Carias ace clinched the second set at 25-19.

The third and final set saw FPU begin fast with the first seven markers of the match which was capped off by a dual block from Runge and St. Jean to put the Ravens in the driver's seat at 7-0. Their advantage eventually grew to 14-5 following back-to-back aces by Runge. The Raven lead was cut down to five 16-11, but Franklin Pierce put the set and match away by using a 7-1 scoring run before Varricchio capped off the match with her 10th kill for the 25th and final point.

The Ravens will return to the court tomorrow for the final day of Ramfest 2017 as they square off against Goldey-Beacom at noon and Millersville at 2:00 p.m.

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' online store (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store).