Raven Volleyball Goes 1-1 Friday In Final Twinbill of Year

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (September 14, 2018) – The Franklin Pierce University volleyball team competed in their final doubleheader of the 2018 campaign on Friday at Roberts Wesleyan College. The Ravens were defeated in their first game 3-0 (20-25, 12-25, 12-25) by Urbana University and ended the nightcap with a 3-1 (26-24, 15-25, 25-15, 25-21) victory against the host Red Hawks. The split gave the Ravens their fourth win of the season.

Game One: Blue Knights 3, Ravens 0 (20-25, 12-25, 12-25)

Urbana jumped ahead 6-3 via a double-block by Kaitlin Trace and Hannah Hodulik. Back-to-back Abigail Garnhart (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and Lauren Herrera (Simi Valley, Calif.) connections brought the set to a 6-5 score. Herrera and Garnhart immediately tied the set at 6-6 as they stuffed Trace by clogging the middle of the net. The squads swapped points and possessions as Urbana eventually built up a three-point edge over the Ravens. A Cierra Dolan (Ronkonkoma, N.Y.) kill assisted by Herrera kept the deficit at three, 16-13. Two consecutive markers for the Ravens made the score 18-16, however, Urbana closed the set 25-20 on a Hannah Delor kill.

In the second set, a Sarah Roach (Provo, Utah) kill from the right pin tied the score 1-1 in the early stages. Urbana promptly notched four straight points including two consecutive kills by Delor to lead 5-1. The Ravens responded with two consecutive kills of their own to come within two at 5-3. Trailing by four, 11-7 kills from Roach and Garnhart brought the score to 11-9 before, two Raven miscues and another Delor kill upped the Urbana advantage to 14-9. Franklin Pierce took a timeout and immediately responded with a Roach kill to make it a 14-10 set. Urbana rallied and went on an 11-2 scoring binge to take the set and hold a 2-0 set lead.

The Blue Knights started fast in set number three as they led 7-0, which forced the Ravens into an early timeout. After the timeout, Dolan rocked an attempt from the left pin that clanked off an Urbana blockers arm and landed out of play for FPU's first point of the set. Urbana grew their advantage to 18-5 before taking the match with the 25th point.

Franklin Pierce hit .310 in the first set, but they struggled to generate offense in the second and third sets hitting .086 and .033 respectively. Jocelyn Moody (Biddeford, Maine) led the Raven offense with a team-best seven kills and a .375 hitting percentage. On defense, Marisa Lamb (Phoenix, Ariz.) recorded 12 digs. 

Game Two: Ravens 3, Red Hawks 1 (26-24, 15-25, 25-15, 25-21)

Abigail Garnhart hit .222 in the Ravens win contributing 11 kills and four total blocks. Sarah Roach added eight kills, 13 digs, three blocks, and two aces. Jocelyn Moody chipped in seven kills, 10 digs, two aces while Marisa Lamb led all players with 21 digs.

With the duel tied at 5-5 a Dolan and Breanna Mineweaser (Honey Brook, Pa.) block moved the Ravens briefly in the lead at 6-5. The Red Hawks strung together eight consecutive points to move in the driver's seat at 13-6. Lauren Chase set up Kristina Button for a kill as RWC led by a set high nine points at 17-8. The Ravens resilience showed by totaling a 9-2 scoring binge of their own capped off by back-to-back attack errors by Roberts Wesleyan that cut the FPU deficit to two, 19-17.

Freshman Lauren Herrera came up huge by killing off an assist by Brittney Carias (Burlingame, Calif.). Herrera took service and lofted an ace to push the Ravens within one at 20-19. FPU regained the lead at 21-20 with Herrera serving as Emily Rowlison committed an attack error. Dolan put the Ravens one point away from a set victory, but a Button kill and block tied the score at 24 all. A Red Hawk bad set combined with a Moody kill awarded the Ravens a 26-24 set win.

Franklin Pierce struggled to hit in the second set as their attack percentage sat at a match-low -.154 while the Red Hawks hit a game-best .207. The Ravens held a 7-4 advantage after another Herrera ace, but an 8-0 RWC binge gave them the set for good.

The third set was all FPU as they were in front for the majority of the battle. Two separate runs upped the Ravens edge to 15-8 until the Red Hawks brought it to a three-point set, 16-13 following a Button kill. Six straight by FPU with two kills from Moody and one from Mineweaser added onto their advantage at 22-13.

The Ravens rolled early in the fourth set before an Anastasis Smith and Grace Detwiler block tied the game at 13-13. Two Sarah Roach aces increased the Raven lead to 16-13. Ahead by four, the Red Hawks crawled back into the set at 19-18 following three consecutive Raven attack errors. The Ravens steadied the storm allowing only one point over the remainder of the set while Carias clinched the game via service ace for the 25th point.  

FPU concludes their road trip tomorrow with a 10:00 a.m. battle against Daemen.

For more information on Franklin Pierce Athletics, please visit the official website of Franklin Pierce Athletics (http://fpuravens.com). 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 apparel can do so at the Department of Athletics' online store (http://fpuravens.com/store). You can also follow the volleyball program on Twitter (https://twitter.com/FPURavensVB) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/fpuravensvb/).