WEST HAVEN, Conn. (November 15, 2016) – After starting the season 0-4 and enduring a five match losing streak during the middle stretch of the campaign, the no. 3 Franklin Pierce University volleyball team won six of their last seven matches to earn a trip to the Northeast-10 Conference quarterfinals versus the no. 3 University of New Haven Chargers. Both squads squared off on Tuesday evening and the host Chargers advanced to the league semifinals with a 3-1 (25-17, 25-27, 25-18, 25-20) win over the Ravens.

The Chargers improve to 17-8 on the year and will travel to no. 2 American International on Friday for the NE-10 Semifinals with a conference title game appearance on the line. The loss wraps up the Ravens campaign at 12-15.

Katie Leidhold (Acushnet, Mass.) accounted for the entire Ravens offense as she attempted a whopping 71 attacks on the night and racked up a team-high 18 kills. She also added 23 digs on defense and three total blocks. Middle hitter Abigail Sonuga (Haverhill, Mass.) tallied seven kills and a game-best five blocks. Freshman Danielle Varricchio (Boynton Beach, Fla.) racked up five kills and a match-high 24 digs while tying Sonuga in stuffs with five.

On the night, the Crimson and Grey were outhit .173-to-.120 by the hosts, but were more active at the nets (22 blocks-to-14).

Madison Klusendorf (Santa Maria, Calif.) began service for the Ravens and earned two points during her serves with the second point coming on a dual block by Sonuga and Hannah Runge (Deltona, Fla.). UNH responded with three straight markers and Leidhold knotted up the score with a kill to the back left corner of the court. UNH charged full speed ahead with a 9-4 scoring binge to take a 12-7 lead which forced a Ravens timeout.

After the stoppage UNH continued their hot hitting piling up six more kills which gave them a 10 point, 18-8 lead in the first set. FPU used their final timeout of the set and scored four straight points on a Fabiola Garcon (Brockton, Mass.) kill, a Sonuga block, a Leidhold block and a Sonuga kill which cut the deficit to 18-12. That was as close as the guests would come to the Chargers in set one.

The Crimson and Grey hit .021 in first set compared to the Chargers .180 hitting percentage.

In set two both teams' swapped points and serves through the early stages of the set as no team held more than a one point lead. A Runge kill gave FPU a two point 9-7 lead. Leidhold built the Raven lead up to three points when she powered the ball over the net and off a Charger players arm for a 12-9 FPU advantage. Team captain Hannah St. Jean (Olympia, Wash.) blocked a kill attempt by Meagan Kennelly to push the Ravens lead to four points, 14-10 and UNH used a timeout to try and cool down the Ravens attack.

The hosts outscored Pierce 4-1 after the stoppage, but the Ravens tallied two straight to build the lead back up to three, 17-14. The Chargers stormed back to tie the set at 19 before a Leidhold kill and a St. Jean block put FPU ahead 21-19. The Ravens looked poised to take the set as they held a 24-22 lead, but an Alex Bussey block and a kill from Kristine Rios tied the set at 24 all.

In extra serves, Rios put the Chargers on the verge of a 2-0 match lead, but on the next serve a Meghan Kennelly attack error tied the set again. Jocelyn Moody (Biddeford, Maine) entered the contest and took service for the Ravens. Moody came up huge for the Crimson and Grey as she tallied the set clinching point with a service ace that bounced off Brianna Mirmina and out of play.

The Chargers built two three point leads early in set three, however the Ravens slowly crawled back into the contest due to a Kennelly and Rios attack error. A Runge feed over the middle to St. Jean brought the deficit down to one at 12-11 in favor of UNH. A 5-2 mini run from the Chargers which concluded with a Bussey kill pushed their lead to 17-13 leading to a Pierce timeout. The Chargers momentum continued throughout the final stages of the set as they forced the Ravens into five attack errors with three of errors counting as blocks and the hosts took the important third set by a 25-18 score.

The Chargers jumped out in front 9-2 before the Ravens crawled back into the set with a 6-3 mini scoring run which cut the UNH lead to four, 12-8 thanks to a thunderous power swing by Sonuga. Following an UNH attack error, Sonuga showed her prowess in the middle once again with a solo block that brought the Chargers lead down to two, 12-10. A Rios killed pushed the hosts lead to 16-12, but four consecutive points from the Ravens including a dual block by St. Jean and Varricchio knotted the set at 16 all.

After a timeout by UNH, the Chargers rattled off three in a row before Garcon took a feed from Runge to cool down the Chargers momentarily. New Haven racked up four straight points with Rios involved that put UNH two points away from a victory. Klusendorf, Sonuga and Leidhold all poured in kills to make it a four point, 24-20 game, but Kennelly stopped the Ravens run with a kill from Rios to successfully end the match.

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).