MADISON, NJ (October 19, 2022) – Susquehanna volleyball's extended stretch of away matches continued on Wednesday night as they traveled to New Jersey to face off with Landmark opponent Drew University. After a tough start, the River Hawks would unleash a reverse sweep to take a 3-2 victory over the Rangers, with set scores of 20-25, 19-25, 25-17, 25-16, and 15-13.

The two teams were closely matched in the early goings, with Drew managing to jump out to a lead as large as seven points in the opening set. Susquehanna would put together a late rally, scoring five points in a row with kills from Ryan Rorls and Keira Roach helping to spur the run, but would stall out down 22-20 and see Drew take the one set advantage.

The second set saw the Rangers start on the front foot, scoring the first six points before SU responded. The Rangers' lead stretched as far as 13 points as they reached 21-8 over Susquehanna. The River Hawks would mount another rally, earning six points in a row to work on closing the gap. The score would eventually hit 24-15 in favor of Drew, before Susquehanna put together four more points in a row, led by a kill from Rosina Esposito and attack errors from Drew. But the Rangers again halted the run with the final point of the set.

The third set saw the teams trade the lead for the majority of the frame, before Susquehanna would begin a six point run that brought the score to 22-16 in their favor and then eventually put the last three points away to win the set and reduce Drew's set lead back to one.

The fourth set saw the River Hawks play some of their best volleyball of the night, hitting .353 in the set and tallying a match-high 16 kills. Rorls and Esposito would dominate the set and produce most of those kills, with Kody Dillon, Amanda Gore, and Emily Kowalski each contributing one.

Drew would take the lead for much of the first half of the fifth set, reaching eight points when Susquehanna had just three. But the River Hawks again rallied back, scoring four points in a row, falling behind 11-8 before producing another four-point run, seeing Drew reclaim the lead at 13-12, and then tying it at 13 through a kill from Rorls. The final two points would see a Drew attack error and then a service ace from Faith Shaffer seal the victory for Susquehanna.

Multiple River Hawks had strong statistical performances, as Esposito led the way with 19 kills, followed by Rorls and Kowalski who both finished with 14. Kowalski also produced the best hitting percentage, finishing at .385 on the night. Lexie Kalligonis led in digs with 27, while Keira Roach had 48 assists to top the team, one shy of her career-best and passing the 1000 assist mark as only a sophomore. She also racked up 4 service aces to lead in that category. Dillon had a solo block and three block assists to lead SU.

Now back to winning ways after a three-match losing skid, the River Hawks will look to string wins together as the postseason approaches. They'll finish their non-conference slate this weekend, facing off with Eastern University on Friday night at 7 pm before taking on Swarthmore College and Dickinson College on Saturday at 2 and 4 pm respectively.

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--RIVER HAWKS--