Women's Volleyball Falls Twice at Rivier

NASHUA, N.H. – The Wentworth women's volleyball team dropped a pair of non-conference matches on Saturday as the Leopards fell to Rivier, 3-0, and Wesleyan, 3-0, in a tri-match hosted by Rivier College.

Wentworth's first match of the day featured its first meeting since the 2000 season against the host Raiders.  Rivier took a 25-11 win in the first set by hitting .375 and holding the Leopards to a negative hitting percentage.  The Raiders would again hold Wentworth to a negative hitting percentage in the second set and would go ahead by a 2-0 score with a 25-14 win.  Rivier took its third win in its last four matches and improved to 6-7 with a 25-22 win in the third set.

Junior Julie Bruton (Montgomery, Texas) and sophomore Julie Rahilly (Nashua, N.H.) each recorded five kills, with Bruton adding four blocks and eight digs and Rahilly recording a dozen digs.  Sophomore Rebecca Williams (Brockton, Mass.) had 18 assists and eight digs, while classmate Nicole Wetherbee (Pembroke, Mass.) had seven digs.

In the first meeting between the two schools, Wesleyan jumped out to an early lead in the first set before taking a 25-9 win to go ahead, 1-0.  Wentworth, which was held to a negative hitting percentage in the first set, hit nearly 160 points higher in a closely played second set, but the Cardinals prevailed, 25-19.  Needing a win to extend the match, Wentworth again had a solid hitting performance but would fall, 25-15, as Wesleyan improved to 3-3.

Rahilly had seven kills while Bruton added six kills, hit .461, served two aces, had 10 digs.  Freshman Michelle Hobbs (Northwood, N.H.) chipped in with four kills and six digs, while Williams had 18 assists.

The two losses drop Wentworth's record to 3-10 overall and the Leopards look to get back on the winning track on Thursday (Sept. 30) with a home match against Daniel Webster.