COLCHESTER, Vt. (September 24, 2019) – The Franklin Pierce University volleyball freshman duo of Tessa Brandt (Foster, R.I.) and Ingrid Lindstrom (Dudley, Mass.) combined for 21 of the Ravens 39 kills in a 3-0 (25-17, 25-18, 25-10) straight sweep of Northeast-10 Conference opponent Saint Michael's College Tuesday evening in both squads league opener at the Ross Sports Center. With the win, the Ravens improve to 7-4, 1-0 NE10 while the Purple Knights fall to 1-7, 0-1 NE10.

Brandt recorded a match-high 11 kills to go along with five digs on defense and two aces while hitting .310. Lindstrom had 10 kills of her own with a team-high two blocks. It was also her second match hitting above .600 as she manufactured kills on .625 of her attacking attempts.

Teammate Abigail Garnhart (Colorado Springs, Colo.) was one kill shy of joining her teammates in double figures as she tallied nine. Junior transfer Ellie Ivanova (Sofia, Bulgaria) shined on the defensive end with a game-best 20 digs adding five assists and four aces on the offensive end. Senior Jocelyn Moody (Biddeford, Maine) matched Ivanova with four aces too.

Grace Fornabia had eight kills for the Purple Knights while blocking a match-high four attempts. Sarah Scott chipped in eight kills as well.

As a team, FPU outhit their counterparts .245-to-.118 and racked up 14 service aces to SMC's two. In the third and deciding set, the crimson and gray hit .414 and totaled 15 kills. The win was also the fifth on the road this season for the Ravens as they have been undefeated as the away team.

An Allie Statile kill midway through the first set put the hosts ahead 12-10. The Ravens responded with four straight markers including a Moody ace to lead 14-12. Sarah Scott brought her team within one, 14-13, however, the Ravens attack exploded for four kills and two aces by freshman Britney Loyd (Coppell, Texas) to lead 21-13. Pierce's edge expanded to 10, 24-14 when Ivanova planted a service ace. Moody wrapped up the set 25-17 by killing off a Mary Pease (East Haddam, Conn.) dime.

Saint Michael's held an 8-6 lead in the second set via a Fornabia kill at the pin. Four straight by FPU including a sophomore Addison Wright (Carmel, Ind.) kill when she sprawled out in a full-on dive on the court and somehow got the ball over the net which regained the two-point Raven lead at 10-8. A Raven attack error and a Scott ace deadlocked the set 10-10. FPU would go on to outscore the Purple Knights 10-2 to grow their margin to 20-12, until a late Purple Knight surge put them within five, 22-17. A Garnhart middle smash to the back left corner of the court coupled with an SMC attack error won the important second set for Pierce.

The third set saw the Ravens turn a 6-4 advantage to a 13-4 lead with Moody leading the charge by perfectly placing three aces including two of them back-to-back to up the margin to 10, 14-4. Pierce kept on piling up points increasing the lead to 13 twice before winning the decisive third set.

The Ravens, winners in four of their last five, return to the friendly confines of The Fieldhouse Saturday as they welcome league foe Saint Anselm College for a matinee affair which is slated for 1:00 p.m.

For more information on Franklin Pierce Athletics, please visit the official website of Franklin Pierce Athletics (http://fpuravens.com). 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 apparel can do so at the Department of Athletics' online store (http://fpuravens.com/store). You can also follow the volleyball program on Twitter (https://twitter.com/FPURavensVB) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/fpuravensvb/).