THE BASICS

Scores: Match 1: Rivier 3, Emerson 0
Match 2: Emerson 3, Colby-Sawyer 1

Records: Emerson Lions (11-13, 3-11 GNAC) ; Rivier Raiders (23-7, 14-0 GNAC) ; COlby-Sawyer Chargers (10-16, 0-14 GNAC)

Date: April 6th, 2019

The Lead: The Emerson Men's Volleyball took the second match of their trig-match against the Colby-Sawyer Chargers 3-1 to qualify for the GNAC playoffs after falling to the Rivier Raiders in the first match.

Match One

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Mark Piorkowski (Montclair, N.J.) paced the Lions with nine kills while fellow Senior Win Kittivatcharapong (Bangkok, Thailand) had six in the loss.
• Junior Lucas Raagas (Cambridge, Mass.)  totaled 13 assists on 20 kills for the Lions.
• Dashaun Graham led the Raiders while Pedro Campos and Eric Roderick combined for 31 assists, 17 and 16 respectively.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The teams started out trading points in the first set.  Rivier took he lead after the score was knotted at seven, going on a 6-2 run to open up a 13-9 lead.
• The Lions kept the score close, not letting the Raiders open up a lead bigger than four until Rivier closed out the set on a 6-2 run to give them the 25-17 victory.
• Rivier opened up the same lead in the second set at 13-9.  Emerson curt the lead to three at 14-11, but the Raiders closed out the set on a 10-3 run, taking it 25-14.
• The third set was much closer, with Emerson coming battling back form a seven point deficit. 
• The Lions cut it to four at one point, but the Raiders closed it out at 25-20, taking the match 3-0.

Match Two

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Piorkowski led all players with 18 kill sand junior Sam Willinger (Golden Beach, Fla.) added 11.
• Raagas had 24 assists for Emerson while freshman Josh Elliot (Swedesboro, N.J.) added 21.
• Jacob DiTore (Salem, N.H.) had 20 digs in the four set victory.
• Orlanda PLagata had 13 kills to lead Colby-Sawyer while Aj Gnieski had 30 assists.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• In the first set, Emerson took the first four points, building an early coushion.
• The Lions extending the lead, eventually bringing it to eight at 16-8 on a Leon Chen service ace.
• Emerson closed out the set on a Matt Connoly kill 25-20, taking the 1-0 lead.
• The Lions lost a closely contested second set, falling on a Zach Allen kill for the Chargers, 25-23.
• In the third set, the Lions got back on track by taking five of the first six points.  They built on their lead to take a 16-9 lead, before closing out the set 25-17.
• The teams split the first eight points of the first set, before the Lions went on a 28-5 run to take a commanding 22-9 lead, eventually closing out the set on a Kittivatcharapong kill 25-12.

UP NEXT

• The victory secured Emerson's playoff berth, and they will take on Johnson & Wales at 7:00pm on Tuesday in Providence, Rhode Island.