NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ - The Iona College volleyball team began play Friday at the Rutgers Invitational, dropping its first match in three sets to the host Scarlet Knights.  In the nightcap, Iona took the first two sets of its match with Rhode Island, but could not close it out as the Rams took the final three for a five set victory.

In the opener, Rutgers won by set scores of 25-23, 25-14, 25-16.  Junior OH Alicja Pawelec led the Gaels with 11 kills in the match, to go along with five digs.  Junior OH Madisyn Spence had 10 digs and sophomore S Caris Myles had 19 assists.  Senior libero Theresa Harvey led the defense with 10 digs.

In the finale of the day, the Gaels took the first two sets by scores of 25-23 and 25-19.  The Rams would then come back and prevailed with scores of 25-21, 30-28 and 15-12 in the deciding set.  Sophomore OH Taylor Cembalisty led the Iona offense with a career high 23 kills and completed her first career double-double with 13 digs.  Sophomore MB Catrina Warren had 17 kills and five digs, while Pawelec had 12 kills and 12 kills.  Myles posted a season high 50 assists, to go along with 14 digs.  Harvey posted 28 digs for the Gaels in the loss.

Iona completes its weekend at the Rutgers Invitational Saturday, when they face New Hampshire at 12:00 pm.