RINDGE, N.H. (September 26, 2015) – The day brought plenty of optimism for the Franklin Pierce Women's Volleyball team, as they knocked down their first conference win of the season on Tuesday evening against Southern New Hampshire. Saturday brought a brand new opponent in the University of New Haven Chargers, a powerhouse in the conference in recent years that included knocking the Ravens out of the Northeast-10 Conference playoffs a year ago. On Saturday, the tides turned as the Ravens defeated New Haven 3-1, the first victory for the Ravens over the Chargers since 2005.

With the win, the Ravens improve to 8-5 overall (2-0 Northeast-10) while maintaining their spot atop the conference standings in a tie for first place. With the loss, New Haven drops to 8-6 overall (0-1 Northeast-10), as they drop their first conference game of the season.

Out of the gate, New Haven held control and put the Ravens down early. After taking the first two points, New Haven and Franklin Pierce traded points for a while, until New Haven took a 9-6 lead. From there, the Chargers put together a 15-6 run to close out the set and go up 1-0 in the match.

After the rough start, the Ravens then found their game, and emerging as standouts would be senior Sarah MacHugh (Red Hook, N.Y.) and junior Aiden Garcia (Eagle Pass, Texas). The thunder and lightning duo each did their job on the floor, with MacHugh picking up the slack defensively, finishing her day with a match-leading 26 digs, while Garcia found her swing on offense. Their play along with sophomore Hannah St. Jean (Olympia, Wash.) and freshman Katie Leidhold (Acushnet, Mass.) put together a clutch second set.

The Ravens put together a strong lead at 21-9 in the second set. New Haven would not give up on the set, as they charged back and capitalized on Franklin Pierce mistakes, getting the score to 23-17. From there, ironically it would be Charger mistakes the Ravens would capitalize on and take the second set 25-19 to put the match 1-1.

The third set between the two sides would be the closely fought battle of the afternoon, as both teams stuck only a few points apart through the entirety of the set. The biggest lead, which turned out to be key would be a six point lead by the Ravens at 18-12 after a New Haven attack error. Franklin Pierce would shut the door and take a 25-19 win in set two to go up 2-1 in the match.

Franklin Pierce would find a way to get it done in set four, commandingly taking a lead halfway through. With just a slim margin between them at 15-13 in favor of the Ravens, they took advantage of more New Haven errors to jump into the driver's seat at 20-13. Franklin Pierce then outscored the Chargers 5-2 in the remaining time of the set, with the final two points coming from freshman Abigail Sonuga (Haverhill, Mass.) and Garcia with the game-winner.

Garcia led the kill parade with 14 and an attack percentage of .393, while St. Jean followed behind with nine. It would be Leidhold with the best all-around game on the day, finishing with eight kills, 17 digs, and also had three blocks. Sonuga and sophomore Madison Klusendorf (Santa Maria, Calif.) each smacked home five kills apiece. Tossing around all the offense was sophomore Hannah Runge (Deltona, Fla.) with 29 assists and 13 digs for a double-double. Klusendorf also finished in double-digit digs with 10, while senior Catherine Purdy (Ossining, N.Y.) finished with 15 digs.

For New Haven, Meghan Kennelly was the only Charger in double-digit kills with 15, with Damianis Eusebio and Kristen Lee each slammed home eight apiece. Kristine Rios led the team with 34 assists, while Devin Smith paced the way defensively with 24 digs. New Haven had four others finish in double-digit digs in Rios, Lee, Kennelly, and Caprisha Richards.

The Ravens will continue their three-game hot streak a week from now, on Saturday, October 3 when they travel to Colchester, Vt. to take on the Saint Michael's Purple Knights. Game time is set for 1 p.m. Franklin Pierce return to Rindge on October 20 when they play host to Merrimack at 7 p.m.

For more information on Franklin Pierce Athletics, please visit the official website of Franklin Pierce Athletics (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu). Also be sure to follow the Ravens through the Department of Athletics' official Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens), its YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/franklinpiercesports) and its Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/FPUathletics). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce volleyball apparel can do so at the Department of Athletics' online store (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store).