NEW YORK, NY - The Iona College volleyball team split its two final matches at the Columbia Classic to finish the weekend with a 2-1 record. The Gaels swept Lafayette in three sets in the opener before falling to the host Lions in an epic five-set decision to complete play. Senior libero
Allison Nieters and sophomore OH
Theresa Harvey were named to the All-Classic team following the contest.
The Maroon & Gold (6-4) continued its hot streak on the Upper West Side with a 25-19, 25-8, 25-23 sweep of Lafayette. The Gaels held a tremendous .455 hitting percentage as a team, the highest since setting the school standard .462 on Oct. 8, 2003 and hit over .400 for the just the fourth time in the last nine seasons. Senior MB
Colleen Genett hit .588 with 11 kills on 17 attempts with just one error. She also added three blocks. Her classmate - MB
Rachel Whitten - led the Gaels with her .615 hitting percentage. Whitten had nine kills with one error on 13 attempts. She added two aces and two assisted blocks on in the contest. Harvey hit .500 with nine kills.
Senior S
Alyssa Erickson played the first two sets of the match recording 25 assists and six digs. Junior S
Nicole Tamburri came on in set three and posted 12 assists and was 3-for-3 on her attack attempts. Nieters was the lone Gael with double-digit dig totals with 11 in the contest.
The nightcap featured the Classic's two unbeaten teams between the Gaels and Lions. After taking the first set 28-26, Iona dropped the next two 25-19 and 25-17. The squad battled back in set four for a 25-14 win before surrendering the deciding frame 15-9.
Harvey had a career-high 20 kills in the contest and completed her second double-double of the year with 12 digs. Rookie OH
Alicja Pawelec added 14 kills and four digs while Genett had her second straight double-digit kill effort with 10 in the defeat. It was Genett's 100th appearance in Maroon & Gold. Along with Nieters' 100th match played in the Lafayette match earlier in the day, the two became the 22nd and 23rd players in school history to reach the century mark.
Erickson had her team-leading fifth double-double of the year with 46 assists and 12 digs. Nieters posted her 26th career 30+ dig effort (first of 2010) with 34 digs while senior DS
Laura Fojanesi added 11. Nieters stands just eight digs away from joining the Top 25 on the NCAA's career dig list. She trails IPFW graduate Peachy Jankowski's career total of 2,253 by a total that is reachable in Iona's next contest.
The Gaels completed their non-conference portion of the schedule with a 6-4 record and begin MAAC play next weekend at Loyola and Saint Peter's on Saturday (Sep. 18) and Sunday (Sep. 19).
