RINDGE, N.H. (October 27, 2016) – The Franklin Pierce University volleyball team secured their second straight victory on Thursday evening with a 3-0 (30-28, 25-12, 25-14) sweep of Northeast-10 Conference opponent Southern Connecticut State University. With the win, the Ravens move to 8-13 and 4-5 in the conference, the loss drops the Owls to 14-13 and 4-7 in league play.

As a team, the Ravens severely outhit the Owls (.193-to-.035), held the advantage at the net (13 blocks-to-eight) and recorded five more service aces (nine-to-four).

Katie Leidhold (Acushnet, Mass.) set a new personal best with seven service aces with three of them coming consecutively in the early stages of the first set. Leidhold added 11 kills and 11 digs to her stat line. Freshman Danielle Varricchio (Boynton Beach, Fla.) chipped in eight kills, 11 digs, two blocks and two assists. Madison Klusendorf (Santa Maria, Calif.) hit .385 on the evening with six digs and two blocks.

The first set needed extra serves to find a winner. A Hannah St. Jean (Olympia, Wash.) kill from Hannah Runge (Deltona, Fla.) put FPU up one point, 25-24. Two straight blocks from Sean Taylor of SCSU put the Owls in the driver's seat up 26-25. On the next serve, Alexandria Jurgens promptly committed a service error to breathe life back into the Ravens chances.

Sean Taylor regained the lead for Southern Connecticut with a kill set up by Jurgens. A bad set by Nicole Hauser knotted up the contest yet again and the mistake was followed by a Raven service error to put the Owls on the brink of victory yet again. The Ravens won the contest by scoring the next two points, the first coming on a huge dual block by Abigail Sonuga (Haverhill, Mass.) and Madison Klusendorf and the set clinching point came on an attack error.

The next two sets were less challenging than the first as the Ravens built up a huge lead in set two and never looked back. In the third and final set, the Crimson and Grey trailed by a 9-5 margin, but embarked on an 8-1 scoring binge to take a 13-10 lead. The Ravens then put the contest away outscoring the guests 12-4 through the remaining moments.

Abigail Sonuga led the team at the net with five total blocks. Brittney Carias (Burlingame, Fla.) tallied 18 digs and Hannah Runge dished out 29 helpers.

The Ravens head into the month of November with four of the final five games of the campaign in the Fieldhouse, with the first game of the new month coming on Tuesday, November 1st versus NE-10 foe Saint Michael's at 7:00 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 cross country apparel can do so at the Department of Athletics' online store (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store).