RINDGE, N.H. (10/14/22) – It was another lengthy battle for the Franklin Pierce volleyball team as they pushed their opponent to five sets for the second straight match. However, fortune simply wasn't in their favor late in the contest, as the Southern New Hampshire University Penmen hunkered down and emerged victorious, 3-2 on Friday evening.

For the Ravens, they have now dropped two straight and fall to 6-9 (1-4 NE10) overall on the season. The Penmen advance to 11-3 (5-1 NE10) with their fifth straight win.

The opening set proved to be a tightly contested affair, as the two clubs would play to a 10-all deadlock in the early going. From that point, the Ravens kept pace with the Penmen through the middle stages, allowing no more than a three- point lead to an eventual 18-18 tie. Five straight points by Southern New Hampshire, despite another pushback late by the Ravens, proved costly enough as the Penmen escaped with a 25-22 match opening set win.
 
In the second set, SNHU was in command early, but saw 9-4 lead slowly dissolve as the Ravens continued to fight from behind. Freshman Annaka Lindstrom (Dudley, Mass.) helped spark a 6-1 scoring run for the Ravens mid-way through the set, collecting consecutive points with a kill followed by a service ace to establish a new 19-15 lead for Franklin Pierce. To close out the set, the Ravens then mounted a 7-1 run over the Penmen to claim the win 25-20, with the final two points belonging to senior Ingrid Lindstrom (Dudley, Mass.) after finishing the frame with four kills.

The Ravens continued to apply pressure through the third set, keeping the SNHU lead to a maximum of two points before claiming the lead back for themselves at 15-14, while in the process off outscoring the Penman by a 6-1 margin. A few plays later, the Ravens repeated their late stages success with five unanswered points, which included a pair of kills from senior Mariah Robles (West Covina, Calif.) and a solo kill from first year middle blocker Martina Spackova (Bratislava, Slovakia). At set point (24-21), senior outside hitter Tessa Brandt (Foster, R.I.) added the finishing touches, hammering home the final kill for the 25-21 set victory, and the 2-1 Raven match lead.  

The two squads settled in for an entertaining fourth set with the match outcome on the line. Determined to stay alive, the Penmen hit the gas early and took a 4-0 advantage, before slipping slightly to bring the score to a 7-7 tie. From then on, the Penmen laid siege to the Raven hopes of closing things out with the fourth set with two separate 6-1 scoring streaks, suddenly bringing their advantage to 19-11. The lead would prove to be insurmountable for Pierce, and the match would be prolonged to a fifth set with a 25-15 SNHU win.

To close out the evening, the Ravens once again fell victim to a late SNHU scoring surge from a closely battled 9-all tie, as the Penmen executed a 6-0 scoring run to finalizing the 3-2 match score with a 15-9 fifth set win.  

Ingrid Lindstrom led the way for the Ravens, combining 10 kills (.318 hitting percentage), 5 solo blocks and 6 block assists in the effort. Mariah Robles also had a solid showing for the Ravens, racking up 11 kills, 16 digs and five block assists for her second double-double performance of the season. Junior libero Morgan Schumtzler (Lockport, Ill.)  finished the lengthy battle with a team high 29 digs, while Annaka Lindstrom and Tessa Brandt each collected double-digit figures for the same statistic.

Volleyball hits the road for their next matchup on Tuesday, October 18^th where they will head to Colchester, Vermont for a date with Northeast-10 opponent Saint Michael's College for a 7 p.m. match start.