BOSTON, Mass. – The Emerson Men's Volleyball team suffered their first loss of the 2012 season Thursday night as they took on the powerhouse Rivier Raiders in a GNAC conference match-up. For the Lions, Connor Burton led the team with four kills on the night while Frank O'Sullivan and Jake Bennett both put up two solo blocks apiece. The Raiders finished the match in a straight sweep with a 25-9, 25-10 and 25-21 final to move to 3-1 overall and 3-0 in the conference while EC falls to 2-1 on the year and 0-1 in the GNAC.

Set one saw the Raiders tear out of the gates as they took the first four points of the set with Aaron Almario flooring five kills to swing .833. Rivier as a team swing a nasty .500 for 17 kills while Emerson's offense couldn't seem to get off the ground. The Lions put up four kills in the set and two blocks but the Raiders again amped up the pace with four blocks of their own to put up a quick 25-9 win.

The Raiders looked just as strong in the second set as well, this time with Alex Xenidis putting fown three kills as well as Shane Spellman. The Lions scrapped a bit harder in the set though with Nadav Swarttz and Connor Burton killing two each while Frank O'Sullivan collected a block on the Raiders. Rivier looked undaunted though as they cranked out three blocks themselves en route to a 25-10 win.

The Lions came alive for the third set though as they finally pushed the Raiders a bit, tying them for blocks and putting down seven to Rivier's 10 kills. Frank O'Sullivan matched the floor leader with three kills that Matt Tutino hit as well, but O'Sullivan cranked out a .750 average for the set. It looked grim for Emerson early on in the match up as well with RC taking a 20-10 lead, but EC pulled it to 22-15 match before the Raiders closed the door at 25-21.

The Lions will head to MIT this weekend for a tournament where they'll face MIT and Endicott this Saturday at 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. in Cambridge.