NASHUA, N.H. -- The #5 seed Simmons College Sharks fell to the #1 seed Rivier University Raiders 3-0 (25-15,25-17,25-21) in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference Semifinals tonight in front of a packed house at the Muldoon Gymnasium. With the win, Rivier advances to the GNAC Championship Game for the fourth consecutive year. The Sharks, who made their third-straight semifinal appearance, end their season 11-25, 7-4 GNAC.
Simmons was paced by sophomore Nicole Alberghini (Northborough, MA) and freshman Abby Hart (Westfield, Mass.) who had 7 and 6 kills, respectively. Freshman Morgan Kieon (North Attleboro, Mass.) had 11 assists with freshman Alexandria Itasaka (Bradford, Mass.) totaling the game high with 25 digs.
Senior Nicole Peacock and freshman Molly McCormack combined for 21 kills on the evening with Peacock registering a .409 hitting percentage. McCormack was the kill leader with 11 while Peacock finished with 10. Sophomore Emily O'Reilly totaled 32 assists and senior Jessica Amaral recorded 17 digs. Sophomore Nikki Deluga also had double-digit digs with 11. Sophomore Jackie Pisecco came off the bench and lashed out 6 kills on 9 attempts with 0 errors for a .667 hitting percentage and O'Reilly added five kills.
The Muldoon Gymnasium will host the 2013 Great Northeast Athletic Conference Women's Volleyball Championship Game this Saturday afternoon at 1pm. The top seeded Raiders of Rivier University will square off against the 2nd seeded Saints of Emmanuel College. This will be the first meeting in the Championship Game between the two schools since 2006 when Emmanuel defeated Rivier 3-1. Overall the Saints hold the advantage over the Raiders in the Championship Game by a 2-1 edge.
Short Box Score (Match)
#5 Simmons vs #1 Rivier University (Nov 07, 2013 at Nashua, NH)
Simmons (11-25, 7-4 GNAC) (Kills-aces-blocks) - N. Alberghini 7-0-1;
A. Hart 6-0-2; M. Chamberlin 5-1-0; M. Kieon 3-2-2; A. Duke 1-0-0; A.
Itasaka 1-0-0; R. Fish 0-2-1; Totals 23-5-3.0. (Assists) - M. Kieon
11. (Dig leaders) - A. Itasaka 25; M. Chamberlin 8
Rivier University (26-8, 11-0 GNAC) (Kills-aces-blocks) - Molly
McCormack 11-3-0; Nicole Peacock 10-0-1; Jackie Pisecco 6-0-0; Emily
O'Reilly 5-2-0; Morgan Peck 4-0-0; Nicole Boucher 2-0-0; Nikki Deluga
1-0-0; Lyndsey Sweeney 0-1-0; Totals 39-6-1.0. (Assists) - Emily
O'Reilly 32. (Dig leaders) - Jessica Amaral 17; Nikki Deluga 11; Molly
McCormack 9