Box Score

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- The Fairleigh Dickinson's women's volleyball team fell to Rider on Wednesday night, 3-1, in nonconference action, as the Broncs won by scores of 25-16, 25-20, 22-25 and 25-14. With the victory, Rider improves to 3-5 on the season, while the Knights fall to 1-7 overall.

The first set started off with the Broncs leading the charge until back-to-back kills from sophomore Caroline Laton (Kinnelon, N.J./Kinnelon) and freshman Carly O'Sullivan (Bogota, N.J./Bogota) brought the score to 10-6 and gave the Knights a spark. FDU would go on a three-point run to bring the score to 13-11, but a kill by Rider's Kaitlyn Griffin would swing the momentum back towards the Broncs. The hosts would never look back closing out the set on a 12-5 run.

The second set would start out with both teams going back-and-fourth with points until a kill by Laton would send the Knights on a four-point run giving them the first lead of the night at 10-9. The teams would end up trading points, tying the score five more times in the match at 11, 13, 16, 17 and 19 points. Rider would end up going on a 6-1 run to win the match.

FDU would start the third set with the lead after taking the first point of the set. That lead would then bounce to and from each team until an attack error on the Broncs would send the Knights ahead on a 5-1 run, with a kill by Laton and freshman Alex Lolland (Auburn, Calif./Del Oro), as well as a service ace by Corey Lostetter (Jefferson Hills, Pa./Thomas Jefferson). FDU would hold onto the lead, and a kill by Lolland would seal the deal giving the Knights the win, 25-22.

The last set of the night would have Rider taking the lead early and never looking back. FDU would show some life in the latter half of the set after an attack error by the Broncs. The Knights would go a five-point run with a service ace from junior Allison Butler (Plano, Texas/Plano) and kills by freshman Madison Phipps and junior Maddie Gibbons (Columbus, Ohio/Grandview Heights) to slice the deficit to 21-14. Rider would go on a four-point run after a kill by Griffin to finalize the match.  

Laton would lead the offense for FDU with a career-high 13 kills, which was followed closely by O'Sullivan's nine kills. Butler would have 36 assists for the night acting as a catalyst for the offense. Senior Deborah Hong (Rutherford, N.J./Rutherford) would make her way into the record books after getting 18 digs in the match. Her 1,099 digs now rank her eighth in program history. Lostetter and O'Sullivan would also have double-digit digs, recording 18 and 11, respectively.

The Knights return to action on Friday Sept. 12 when they travel to Providence, R.I. to compete in the Friar Classic, hosted by Providence, with the first match slated to take place at 5 p.m. against Quinnipiac.