The No. 2 Quinnipiac Bobcats took on the No. 3 Rider Broncs in Saturday’s Volleyball MAAC Semifinals.
Each team started conference play against each other back in September, now Rider’s season ends in a 3-1 loss to Quinnipiac.
The Bobcats came out with energy in the first set on and off the court. At every Quinnipiac point, each player exploded with excitement as they got one step closer to returning to the MAAC Championship. They channeled that excitement into their playing, outscoring the Broncs 25-15 to take home the first set.
“We had great energy from the beginning,” said Quinnipiac opposite hitter Elena Giacomini. “Even in the time where we had some difficulties, we knew what the goal was and we knew we were going to reach it.”
While some teams may have let Quinnipiac’s momentum get them down, Rider would not let that stop them from putting up a fight.
The beginning of the second set was a battle for both teams. Rider took their first lead of the game to cause the Bobcats to call a time-out and regroup. It came down to the end of the set when the Bobcats went on a 5-2 run and won it 28-26.
“It’s a game of momentum,” said Quinnipiac’s head coach Kyle Robinson. “We were down a bunch and then slowly started chipping away and coming back.”
Despite being down 2-0, all of the momentum was on the Broncs’ side for the third set. Rider took off at the start of the set and went on a 12-8 run to force Quinnipiac to call a timeout. While the Bobcats tried to push a comeback, the Broncs held onto their lead and won the third set 25-23 to extend their season by one more set.
“I think after we lost the set, we just ended in a bad way with the challenge, so we got really, really fired up,” said Quinnipiac outside hitter Yagmur Gunes. “We kind of put ourselves in that situation. We lost a couple of points back-to-back, and then in the fourth set we’re like ‘we’re getting it done right away.’”
Quinnipiac regained the energy they had in the first set for the fourth and went on an 11-8 run and never looked back. They maintained their lead for the remainder of the set to win it 25-22.
“We’ve been waiting for this moment since last year,” said Yagmur Gunes. “All of us are really excited to play and we’re not nervous. I think we deserve a MAAC championship more than anything, so we’re going to go and get it.”
The Bobcats defeated the Broncs 3-1 and will return to the MAAC Championship and play the No. 1 Fairfield Stags for the third straight year in a row.
Earlier this season Quinnipiac lost in Fairfield but was able to beat the Stags in Hamden to mark their only loss of the season.
“When you have teams that are constantly at the top of any sport, they almost start to create an allure of this big, bad monster,” said Robinson. “So when you get to slay the dragon once in the season, it brings this level of confidence. They should go into this match feeling at least confident.”
After Quinnipiac won the MAAC Championship in 2022 and Fairfield won in 2023, both will look to see which team will come out on top on Sunday at 1 p.m.
