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ALBANY, N.Y.- The College of Saint Rose battled for five sets tonight against Franklin Pierce, with the visiting Ravens earning the 3-2 conference victory with set scores of 25-12, 19-25, 26-24, 25-23, and 19-17. The seesaw match took 2 hours 22 minutes to complete and featured 33 tied scores to go along with 14 total lead changes.

A trio of Golden Knights (7-16/1-8 NE10) finished the match in double-figures in kills, led by the 13 strikes landed each by freshman middle blocker Julia Cavalcanti and senior middle blocker Cassidy Smith. Cavalcanti showed extreme accuracy on her attempts with a .524 percentage on 21 attacks. Saint Rose also received 11 kills on a .400 average from freshman outside hitter Jennah Kareem.

Freshman setter Emma Strefling and sophomore setter Valeria Jorge combined for 41 assists on the Golden Knights 55 kills and freshman outside hitter Juliana Venduro led all players with 17 digs in the setback.

Franklin Pierce (10-9/4-4 NE10) took the opening set with a .469 team strike percentage while holding the Golden Knights to a .077 attack average. Junior outside hitter Mariah Robles tallied eight kills in the first 25 points for the Ravens. 

The Golden Knights leveled the match at 1-1 after freshman middle blocker Karleigh Fripp scored four kills and Cavalcanti won four blocks in the six-point victory in set number two. Six more kills from Cavalcanti in the third set helped Saint Rose win a back-and-forth frame that had 14 ties and five lead exchanges.

Smith landed five kills in the fourth set for Saint Rose but junior outside hitter Britney Loyd and senior defensive specialist Addison Wright each built long service streaks to allow Franklin Pierce to win the stanza and extend the match.

Franklin Pierce claimed a deciding fifth set that saw neither side able to grow a lead of more than two points. Each team held multiple opportunities to close out the match point in the fifth before the Ravens landed the final point for the clinching 19-17 set victory.

Robles recorded a match-high 21 kills and junior middle hitter Ingrid Lindstrom added 11 kills for Franklin Pierce. 
 
Looking forward, both sides will return to the court for Saturday afternoon matches. Saint Rose welcomes Southern New Hampshire for a 1:00 pm tilt in Nolan Gymnasium, while the Ravens head west up the New York State Thruway for a 2:00 pm match at Le Moyne in Syracuse.

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Notes: Saint Rose returned home to Daniel P. Nolan Gymnasium tonight after playing its last five matches on the road…Prior to today's match, the last home contest for the Golden Knights came on October 8, a setback to Southern Connecticut State...Entering play tonight, Fripp's average of 1.04 blocks per set and the 0.82 blocks per set by Cavalcanti ranked first and sixth in the NE10…As a team, Saint Rose leads the conference with 2.01 blocks per set...Fripp also holds the sixth-highest strike rate in the league with a .303 swing percentage...Junior libero Gabriela Boyrie is 12th in the conference with 3.74 digs per set.

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