COLCHESTER, Vt. (10/18/22) - The Franklin Pierce University volleyball team picked up a much-needed road victory on Tuesday evening, dispatching the Northeast-10's northernmost team Saint Michael's College in three sets (25-22, 27-25, 25-23) for a 3-0 shutout victory.

For volleyball, it is only their second win against conference opponents as well as over their past five matchups, bringing their overall season record to 7-9 (2-4 NE10) following the triumph. The Purple Knights continue to slip with the loss, dropping their 11^th straight match while falling to 1-15 (0-7 NE10) overall.

It was the Ravens who eventually took control in the opening set, following a kill by sophomore Avery Theriault (West Hartford, Conn.) which sparked a 6-0 run by the Birds to put themselves ahead 17-9. The same sequence also featured three attack errors by the Purple Knights, as well as a service ace by freshman Annaka Lindstrom (Dudley, Mass.), who maintained the serve the whole way through. Saint Mike's would attempt to respond with some offense of their own, but ultimately couldn't overcome the full deficit as the Ravens claimed the first set, 25-22.

With one team looking to expand upon their match lead, and one looking to avoid falling further behind, the early phases of the second set saw five separate lead changes as both squads kept things close. In another attempt to distance themselves, the Ravens were able to jump ahead 14-10 after outscoring the Knights 8-3, but were continuously met by a relentless Saint Mike's response  that eventually took both teams to a 25-25 deadlock. Directly out of a timeout, senior Mariah Robles (West Covina, Calif.) connected for a kill to put the Ravens in set-point territory, which was promptly followed up with a Purple Knight attack error to close out the second set on a tiebreak.

The third set began with a similar look to it as the second, as both teams jousted to a 9-9 tie after the Ravens matched every Saint Michael's attempt to claim a lead. With the Purple Knights seemingly running out of gas, the Ravens refueled with a 10-2 scoring run which featured four kills from Mariah Robles, pushing them ahead by a 19-13 score . A late response by Saint Michael's would set the stage for another nail-biting finish, but the Raven lead would hold strong through to the end, with Robles claiming the final point on another kill to end the set at 25-23, and the match at 3-0.

On the match, the Ravens hit .242 and limited the Purple Knights to a .132 hitting percentage. Mariah Robles ended up leading the way for the Ravens, finishing with a team-high 13 kills on a .406 hitting percentage. In her first start of the season, sophomore Avery Theriault finished the evening with a new single-match career-best 8 kills, while posting a match high hitting percentage of .538 and four blocks at the net. Seniors Ingrid Lindstrom (Dudley, Mass.) and Tessa Brandt (Foster, R.I.) each also chalked up eight kills, while freshman Annaka Lindstrom (Dudley, Mass.) contributed 28 assists and five blocks. Defensively, junior libero Morgan Schmutzler's (Lockport, Ill.) 24 digs were a tied for the match-high.

Volleyball will have a few days off before returning home to host the University of New Haven on Saturday, October 22^nd at 6 p.m. in one of their final three remaining home matchups.