Sept. 4, 2009

Box Score

Senior setter Nichole Rondeau (Dracut, MA) dished out 29 assists and 10 digs in a tough four set loss to rival Merrimack in UMass Lowell's opening game of the Bridgeport Tournament.

The match scores were 20-25, 17-25, 25-15 and 14-25.

With the loss, the River Hawks slide to 1-2 for the season while the Warriors improve to 2-1. UMass Lowell will look to bounce back later today against the tournament host, Bridgeport, scheduled for a 7 p.m. start.

There were several bright spots in the match including senior Elsa LeGrand (Highlands Ranch, CO) who tallied eight kills, eight digs and a team high six blocks. Also leading the way for the offense was sophomore middle-hitter Lea Freeman (Methuen, MA) who slammed home a team-best nine kills while adding three blocks.

Defensively the River Hawks got several contributors. In addition to Rondeau, two others finished with double-digit digs, junior Jillian Hadder (Yucaipa, CA) had 11 and senior Allie Eide (Gresham, OR) finished with a team-high 20.

After tonight, UMass Lowell will take part in two more matches tomorrow to close out the tournament. The River Hawks clash with Caldwell at 11 a.m., followed by Holy Family at 1 p.m.