Springfield, MA - The #5 ranked Rivier College Raiders (8-1, 3-0 GNAC) 8 game win streak came to an end tonight at the hands of #3 Springfield College in straight sets 3-0.

The fire and passion never seemed to reach the Raider squad on the night as an emotionally flat team led to flat emotionless play.  The big block of the Springfield squad got into the heads of the Raiders early and the team was unable to shake to slow start and fell in straight sets.  The Raiders were baffled time and time again with an aggressive and high flying Springfield team, both the Springfield defense and offense were too much for the Raiders to handle as home team had a team hitting percentage of .453 compared to the Raiders .080 and 17 team blocks compared to Rivier's 3.

Junior outside hitter Jared Andreozzi (Barrington, RI) led the Raiders with 15 kills on the night with 9 errors on 36 swings.  Unfortunaly the .167 hitting percentage was on the high end of Raider attackers on the night.  Middle hitters Taylor Lindner (Cheshire, CT) and Alex Xenidis (Shelton, CT) combined for 9 kills on the night while opposites Drew Corwin (Sudbury, MA) and John Furka (Massapequa, NY) combined for 7 kills.

Setter Zach Hansen (Shelton, CT) struggled to find a rhythm throughout the night as everything he tried seemed to fail but he did muster 33 assists to average 11 per set.

One bright spot for the Raiders was middle hitter Tajh Stokes (Salem, NH), who entered the match in set 3 and gave the Rivier faithful a spark as he quickly put down 2 kills on 2 attempts for a 1.000 hitting percentage, but it was a little to late as the Raiders lost the third set 30-22.

The Raiders will look to regroup during the week and put on a better showing against conference rival Emmanuel College on Friday, February 5 at 7:00 PM.

#5 Rivier College -         0       19  22  22
#3 Springfield College - 3       30  30  30