Simmons Volleyball hosted Saint Joseph's Maine and Rivier on Saturday in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference tri-match. The Sharks pulled out a 3-0 win over the visiting Monks, but fell to the Raiders 3-0. With the split, Simmons improves to 4-3 in the conference, and 10-13 overall.

In the first match, the Sharks came out firing on all cylinders and never looked back, defeating the Monks in three straight sets 25-13, 25-16, and 25-22. Junior Taylor Pederson (San Antonio, Texas) had one of the best games in her volleyball career for the Sharks, demonstrating increased consistency and making smart decisions at the net. Pederson was good for seven kills, one solo block and two block assists. Sophomore Meaghan Flynn (Laguna Beach, Calif.) also turned in a strong performance, with 10 kills, 12 service aces, and seven digs. First year starter Kelly Last (West Haven, Conn.) was had seven kills of her own, along with four digs, 2 solo blocks and 3 block assists.

In match two, the Raiders easily handled the Sharks in the first set, 25-12.  The Sharks didn't back down and gave Rivier all they could in the next 2 sets but the Raiders held their ground and defeated the home team 25-23 and 25-21 to win the match. The Sharks used strong defense to keep the sets close, with senior captain Jessica Hambleton (Methuen, Mass.) tallying 23 digs, along with 17 from Flynn and six from junior captain Nicky Loring (Chester, N.H.).

"It has been somewhat of a struggle to find our niche this season, however things have seemed to finally click," said Head Coach Jason Conetta. "Even though we dropped a tough loss to Rivier, I am very excited to see the level of play we demonstrated throughout the match, as we will continue to improve from now until the end of the regular season."

Simmons will return to action on Tuesday, October 20 when they host GNAC rival Emmanuel College at home at 7:00pm.