NASHUA, N.H. – February 15, 2024 - The Dean College men's volleyball team dropped a 3-0 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) road match at Rivier on Thursday evening. The Raiders won by scores of 25-16, 25-21 and 25-17.

Dean (1-6, 0-3 GNAC) is off until Saturday, Feb. 24 when the Bulldogs host NVU-Johnson for a pair of matches. Rivier (7-4, 3-0 GNAC) plays a tri-match on Saturday at fourth-ranked Springfield.

Senior Aaron Fonseca (West Warwick, R.I.) led Dean with five kills. Junior Nunu Coward-Jackson (Fresno, Calif.) hit .500 to finish with four kills. Sophomore Hunter Armitage (Westerly, R.I.) tallied 11 assists and three aces.  First-year Luis Castillo (Houston, Texas) led the team with seven digs.

Matthew McCloskey led all players with 10 kills on .714 hitting. Tyler Dickinson was next with nine kills and hit .636. Justin Barish collected 40 assists.

The Bulldogs remained close in the first set and trailed but just a pair at 15-13 after a service ace from first-year Daniel Allard (Underhill, Vt.) service ace. Rivier then went on a 12-3 run to close out the set 25-16. The Raiders hit .400 and tallied 15 kills.

Dean held a lead for much of the second set, including at 18-17 after a Fonseca kill. Rivier responded with another strong finish to win the set on a McCloskey kill, 25-21.

Rivier carried the momentum into the third to take an 11-6 lead. The Bulldogs answered with five straight points, including three aces by Armitage, to tie the score. The teams then traded points before a quick 4-0 spurt by the Raiders created separation. The home team ended the match with a 6-2 run to take the set 25-17.