NEW ROCHELLE, NY – The Iona College volleyball team battled to a five-set (25-27, 25-23, 22-25, 25-23, 15-13) win against the Rider Broncs at the Hynes Center on Wednesday evening. Senior Claire Archibald tied a season-best with 23 kills and delivered a career-best 35 digs to help the Maroon & Gold improve to 5-1 in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference play.

MATCH SUMMARY

Each of the sets won by both Iona and Rider included a come-from-behind component.
 
Iona took a 9-8 lead in the first set and maintained a lead until the latter portions. The Gaels had set-point at 24-20, but the Broncs scored four straight points to knot it up. After junior Tess Connolly put the Gaels up by one, Rider scored three straight to take a 27-25 initial win.
 
With the score tied at 14, the Broncs used a 4-1 spurt to take a leading heading into the final events of the second set. The Gaels trailed 23-21, but three straight kills from sophomore Jamie Smith, senior Mia Bonsignore and Connolly got them into a position where a Ride attack error resulted in a 25-23 Iona win.
 
The Broncs won the third set 25-23 despite beginning down in the set 10-3. Rider chipped away and tied the game up at 21 among a 5-0 run. The score was tied at 22 till Savannah Logan gave Rider the lead with a kill and served up the final two victorious points.
 
The fourth set went Iona's way courtesy of two major five-point runs, the second of which closed out the set for a 25-23 decision. The Broncs made four gameplay errors to give the Gaels set-point and Smith put home a kill to send the match to a fifth and final set.
 
Iona and Rider traded points in the fifth. Neither team took a lead of more than two points. Much like in the fourth set, untimely Rider errors resulted in the Maroon & Gold meandering their way to a match-clinching fifth-set win.
 
Overall there were 45 ties and 24 lead changes in Wednesday's match. The Gaels had 74 kills compared to 52 for the Broncs. It was an even wider margin in assists, 71-48. The two teams where within one-percent of each other in sideout percentage and point scoring percentage.

STATISTICAL NOTES

• Archibald tied a season-best with 23 kills and set a new career-best with 35 digs. Her 35 digs ranks 12^th most ever in a five-set match in Iona history. 23 kills is tied for 15^th most ever in a single match.
• Junior Jessica Paolucci had Iona's only ace of the match. The one service ace is a season-low for Iona as a team.
• Connolly quietly had a career-best day. She set new personal-bests in attacks (56) and digs (17). She tied career-bests in blocks (4) and block assists (4).
• Paolucci set a new career benchmark with eight assists.
• Senior Emma Rose had a personal-best 19 digs.
• Freshman Cassandra Patsos set a new career-high with four blocks.
• Smith set a new career-best is attack attempts (53) and tied personal-highs in kills (19) and digs (16)

UP NEXT

The Maroon & Gold return to action at home against the Saint Peter's Peacocks on Saturday, Oct. 6. Kick-off is set for 3 p.m. and the game is being broadcasted on ESPN3.

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