Seniors Antonija Ivanovic and Katarina Nicic refused to go down without a fight, as the Serbian duo helped push the third-seeded Rider Broncs to the brink in the first round of the MAAC Volleyball Championships Thursday morning. The 10^th seeded Saints almost pulled off the upset victory, nearly winning two sets and taking one as the final stood 3-1 (14-25, 23-25, 25-21, 23-25).

As the season concludes, the Saints will finish 4-28 overall, but were winners of three of their last eight matches of the season.

Ivanovic collected a double-double, putting up 12 kills and 15 digs in the effort. Nicic also had a career-high 12 kills as well, with sophomore Nicole Deobler snagging a double-double with 10 kills and 11 digs. Sophomore Jessica Eblin ran the offense as one of her best performances of the year, collecting 37 assists which ties her second-most in a match this season. Eblin also had 12 digs, marking her first double-double of the season. Classmate JoJo Ishida put up a season-high in digs with 26, and freshman Naesha Kelley had a career-high 13 digs as well.

For Rider (18-10, 12-6), Perry Williams had the top performance, putting up a team-high 13 kills and eight blocks. Savannah Logan came one kill shy of a double-double, finishing with nine kills and 12 digs. Hailey Riede put up 12 kills as well, while Anilee Sher tossed out 42 assists in running the offense. Libero Rachelle Runyon tied Ishida's match-high mark with 26 digs.

"I was really proud of the way the team and the way they played with intensity," said head coach Vilis Ozols. "I think if we had closed out the second game it would have been a different match. Nonetheless, this team has come a long way in the season and represented themselves well today."

Rider came out of the gates strong, as they quickly jumped to an 8-1 lead. Siena struggled to get going offensively, as 10 of their 31 attack errors came in the first set. With that, Rider was aided to a 25-14 win in the first set.

Siena picked things up in the second set, as both sides traded points through the meat of the set. With no team grabbing a lead larger than two points, it appeared the Saints were destined for a win in the set when they took a 23-20 lead late. But Williams stepped up big for Rider, as the collected the last five points of the set in favor of Rider, as she smashed four kills and tossed in a block to lead the Broncs to a 25-23 win in the set, putting them up 2-0 in the match.

Set three brought much of the same story, but a different result. Neither team was able to grab a big lead at any point in the set, as Nicic stepped up on offense for the Green and Gold. A kill and a block from Nicic in back-to-back plays led the Saints to another three-point lead late, 22-19. With Rider grabbing two points to come back within one, Siena went back to Nicic for a clutch kill to go up 23-21. Then, back-to-back attack errors from Rider gave the Saints a 25-21 win to cut the Broncs lead to 2-1.

A fifth set came a few points from fruition, as the Saints made a comeback attempt in the fourth set. Leading 22-14 after a 4-0 run, Rider was close to locking things up. But the Saints chipped away, as they took advantage of multiple attack errors, capped with back-to-back aces from junior Kelly Chaney to cut the lead to three, 23-20. After a kill from Williams brought match point for Rider at 24-20, an attack error and pair of kills from sophomore Brooke Rogers brought Siena all the way back within one, 24-23. Out of a timeout, Rider grabbed the final point on a kill by Shello to take the match 3-1.

Siena outplayed Rider in most categories, collecting more kills, aces, assists, and digs. However, Rider took advantage of points with 14 blocks and 31 Siena attack errors.