New Rochelle, NY -- The 17th ranked Raiders finished the Monroe College Invitational with a five set victory Saturday afternoon to cap off a 4-1 record for the week including a 3-1 record during the invite.  The invite featured three NJCAA Division 1 teams and a D2 team that came in with just one loss on their record.

Friday's first matchup featured DI Harford Community College from Maryland who came in with a respectable 11-5 record.  The Raiders came out on fire (hitting .458 in the first set) and the Fighting Owls had no chance in three set sweep, 25-16, 25-15, 25-20.  All 14 Raiders contributed in one way or another in the victory, including all four setters seeing significant time on the court and 12 different Raiders scoring at least two points.

Two of the regions top point scorers, Danielle Johnston (9 kills-1 ace) and Annie Holesinger (7 kills) finished error less, combining for over a .600 hitting percentage. Breanna Wickerink and Jamie Rozell each added four kills and three blocks. Jamie Wellet and Kailey Carmean each had 13 assists and Jasmine Wellet had a match high 16 digs.

Friday's late night match up pitted the Raiders up against the home team Mustangs of Monroe College, another DI school. The Mustangs hadn't lost in over 10 matches and they added to their win streak in a sweep over the Raiders, 25-14, 25-15, 25-23.

Jasmine Wellet swapped out her jersey after the first set, giving her team some offensive power on the outside, finishing with a match high six kills.  She also had a team high nine digs and two aces.  Rozell also had six kills and nine digs to go along with her team high 10 assists.  Kylie Oberlin hit a solid .429 on the night.

Saturday's morning matchup was against DI Richard Bland College of Virginia.  The Raiders took advantage of 18 Statesmen errors and scored the last six points of set one to win 25-19.  After just seven kills in the first set, the Raiders offense exploded in the final two sets, hitting .560 in set two to win 25-9 and .481 in set three to win 25-14 and finish the sweep. 

For the first time all season, every attacker for the Raiders hit at least .250 for the match.  Holesinger (9 kills-.421) and Johnston (8 kills-.263) lead the offense again, but it was freshman Gabi Kitley who had one of her best matches of her collegiate career.  She totaled seven kills and hit a solid .467 while adding two blocks.  Freshman setter Tori Wolcott finished the match off with her first career kill as a Raider.

The Raiders concluded play against a very good Montgomery College team who had only lost to one team all season, that being Monroe College.  The Raiders offense though continued to stay on fire and in the opening set had 16 kills, hit .481 and rolled 25-12 over the Raptors. 

Montgomery responded in the second set where no team led by more than three points.  With the Raiders up 20-17, the Raptors called time and would go on an 8-3 run to win 25-23 and even up the match. 

The third set featured nine lead changes and no more than a three point lead as well.  In the end it was the Raptors who would win 29-27.  The Raiders offense only mustered up nine kills in the loss.

The Raiders responded tremendously in the final two sets.  They hit a season high .609 in the fourth with 14 kills and zero errors to win 25-14.  In the fifth they jumped out to a 5-0 lead and never looked back winning 15-8 to take the match 3 sets to 2. Johnston finished off the match with her team leading 35th kill of the Invite.

Johnston had her ninth double-double of the season with 15 kills and 18 digs.  Sophomore Emma Pachulski had a career high 15 kills and hit .267 for the match.  Rozell had 12 kills, nine assists and three blocks. Middle blockers Oberlin and Lauren Jonker combined to hit .475 with 13 kills and 4 blocks.

Statistical Leaders for entire tournament:

Kills: Johnston 35, Rozell 27, Holesinger 26, Oberlin 19, Pachulski 19
Aces: Jasmine Wellet 7, Heather Coffman 6, Johnston 5, Jamie Wellet 3
Digs: Jasmine Wellet 69, Johnston 31, Coffman 22, Jamie Wellet 21, Makayla Vallad 14
Assists: Carmean 56, Jamie Wellet 38, Rozell 24, Wolcott 19
Blocks: Rozell 9, Wickerink 8, Oberlin 6, Jonker 6, Kitley 5

The Raiders will resume play Tuesday, October 15th at home against Kellogg Community College. To live stream all the Raiders volleyball and basketball games click here. 

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