Women's volleyball earns split over the weekend

The PSU women's volleyball team split its two games against Rhode Island College and Eastern Connecticut State University on Sat. Sept. 20th at Foley Gymnasium, and then defeated Rivier College Mon. evening in Nashua.

PSU defeated Rhode Island College on Sat. afternoon by a score of 3-1 (21-25, 25-15, 25-20, 25-14), but failed to do the same when they fell to Eastern Connecticut State University in straight sets (25-21, 26-24, 25-17) in the evening match. They recovered by beating Rivier on the road Mon. by scores of 18-25, 26-24, 25-21 and 25-17.

PSU looked crisp in its Sat. afternoon match when taking down RIC in four sets. Junior Eliza Badeau propelled PSU past RIC with 23 kills and three blocks. PSU coach Moira Long was also pleased with how junior Brianna Kleckner executed the game plan, "I thought Bri Kleckner did a great job of executing the game plan and forcing the ball to our middle hitters, Eliza and Carly," said Long, "Bri really set the tone on defense as well, not letting anything hit the floor."

The excitement that PSU had after beating RIC in four sets soon turned sour. Although Coach Long was pleased with the execution of her team in the first game, she was disappointed with the way her team performed in the second match against ECSU, "I was extremely disappointed in how the team played. I do not feel as though we stepped up to compete," said Long, "Eastern Conn. came out strong and we needed to respond, and we did not. We needed to make some adjustments to change the tempo of the match and dictate points and we struggled to make that happen."

PSU was able to regain some of the momentum they had lost against ECSU by rallying against Rivier. After dropping the opening set, PSU won a string of three sets in a row led by Eliza Badeau, who had 17 kills and five blocks. PSU junior Carly Newton chipped in with 10 kills, senior Wendy Dziedzic added nine kills, and first year student Meghan Sullivan added eight kills. Danielle Jacques led the way for Rivier with her first double-double of the season with 11 kills and 10 digs. Senior Colleen Van Cura had 21 digs which was a game high. First year students Emileigh Cenedella had 13 digs while Lauren Saccoccio had 16 digs.

PSU now has a record of 8-3 and will return home to play Western Connecticut on Sat. Sept. 27. Western Connecticut has a record of 9-3 and is undefeated on the road this season.