DOVER, Del. - Junior Jessica Croucher (Brisbane, Australia) and sophomore Edarkis Branch (Los Angeles, Calif.) each recorded double doubles Thursday evening, but the Delaware State University volleyball team couldn't hold on to the momentum as they lost to Rider University, 1-3 (25-10, 23-25, 23-25, 23-25) at Memorial Hall.

Branch posted a night of 15 kills and 19 digs while Croucher added 13 kills and 10 digs of her own.  The Hornets led in the kills category, 58-49, while also outhitting the Broncs, .296 (58/18/135) to .234 (49/17/137).

Senior Bel Fakaosi (Salt Lake City, Utah) tallied a match-high 47 assists in the loss.  Fellow senior Laisha Davis (Riviera Beach, Fla.) guided Delaware State with five solo blocks as the Hornets outblocked Rider, 8-3.  Davis added seven kills on a .600 hitting mark.

DSU jumped out of the gates in the first set, with Fakaosi serving up five straight points to force a Rider timeout with the Hornets ahead, 5-0.  Del State continued to put the pressure on the Broncs, going on separate runs of three (twice) and five (twice) straight points to walk away with an easy 25-10 victory. 

Freshman Alena Jung (Kunsterdingen, Germany) collected two service aces in the set while Davis posted three of her solo blocks in the win.  The Broncs committed six errors to just one for DSU.

In the second set, Rider set out to prove that they would not back down easily and went up by as much as six to start the game at 9-3.  The Hornets rallied back and eventually tied the game at 22-22 and took a 23-22 lead on a kill from Jung.  The Broncs capped off the set at 23-25 with three straight kills from Bridget Sheerin to tie the match at 1-1.

The story was the same in the third set as Rider took an eight-point lead before Del State came roaring back.  Down, 19-24, the Hornets mustered up four straight points to put the Broncs into panic mode and call a timeout.  Once again, a kill from Sheerin put Rider over the edge and gave them the 23-25 win to go up, 2-1.

DSU recorded a match-high 19 kills in the fourth set and looked to continue the match into a fifth before eventually falling, yet again by a score of 23-25.  Neither team led by more than four in the set as there were 12 ties and six lead changes. 

Sheerin collected a match-high 21 kills for the Broncs as they improve to 11-11 on the year.  Ashlee Amatulli led Rider with 43 assists while Brittany Gajewski contributed 17 digs.

With the loss, the Hornets fall to 4-17 overall.

Delaware State wraps up their home schedule Sunday with a 3 p.m. contest against Howard University at Memorial Hall.  The Hornets will honor seniors Bel Fakaosi and Laisha Davis prior to the match.

---DSU WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL---