Sarah LaChance had four goals to lead the Raiders in a losing cause against Fitchburg State on Thursday. (Photo courtesy of Rivier University)

NASHUA — The Rivier men’s volleyball team won its sixth straight match Thursday night, taking down Elms College 3-0 GNAC play at the Muldoon Center.

The Raiders cruised for the most part, 25-13, 25-13, 25-22.

The Raiders cruised to a quick first set win behind the right arm of Isaac Borges of New Boston and the serve of David Smith (Clinton, Ohio). Borges finished the set with three of the seven team kills. Smith picked up three service aces through the first set. The Blazers struggled to find a groove, hitting for -.174 with ten errors. They also committed another six while returning the Raiders serves.

The second set saw the Raiders offense pick up the pace finishing the set with 11 kills. Chris Lezon (Lincoln, R.I.), Neil Rea of Windham, and Smith led the way with three kills each. Smith also tallied another four aces in the set to put his total at seven. Carlos Mercado was the Blazers go to for their offense, tallying four kills through the two sets.

The third set saw Rivier struggle slightly as they committed 13 errors in the set. Elms held a three-point lead late in the set 18-15. However, the Raiders would find it again to come back and take a 21-20 lead and finish it out from there. Riv would put down their highest number of kills in the match with 15 compared to eight for Elms.

Smith tallied six of his nine kills in this set. Ethan Soltis would end the set with five of his seven kills. Mercado continued to lead the Blazers offense with another five kills to give him a team high of nine for the match.

Smith finished with 9 kills, 8 aces, and 3 digs. Pedro Campos had the game high in assists with 28. Mercado had 9 kills and 5 assists for the Blazers.

The Raiders are at Nichols College Saturday at noon.

WOMEN’S LACROSSE

FITCHBURG STATE 14, RIVIER 9

Down 2-0 after one quarter in their season opener, The Raiders would strike back to start the second quarter on an unassisted Sarah Lachance goal. The 2-1 deficit would jump up to a 5-1 deficit in a four-minute span for Fitchburg. Ashley Wilder of Milford would break the three-goal run by the Falcons with a score of her own with 8:20 left in the second. Fitchburg and Rivier would tack on one more, with Julia Miele scoring at 5:15 and Rachel Hinkley ending the quarter’s scoring before the half with 2:30 left.

The third quarter saw most of the scoring for both teams. The Falcons opened the third with another three unanswered goals to give them the 9-3 advantage. Hinkley would break the run with her second goal of the game with 8:14 left. Fitchburg would again put in three more goals. Miele had a three-goal quarter with two in a row after Hinkley’s. Now a 12-4 game, Rivier would put in two of their own to shrink the deficit to just six. Raymond would net her second and put the Falcons back up by seven, but Lachance would put it back at six (13-7) with a quarter-ending goal and her second of the game.

Lachance would continue scoring with three straight goals and finished the game with four. Miele also ended the contest with 4 goals for the Falcons while Hinkley had a solid three-goal game along with five ground balls.

Rivier women’s lacrosse will be back in action next Thursday against Thomas at 2 p.m. at Joanne Merrill Field.