LAKE BUENA VISTA, FL – The Iona College volleyball program won the 2018 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championship in four sets (28-26, 25-18, 12-25, 25-18) over Canisius on Saturday afternoon. The Gaels clinch an automatic berth into the 2018 NCAA D1 Volleyball Championship for the second time in program history.
MATCH RECAP
The first set had 10 ties and seven lead changes. The Gaels had the first set point at 24-20 but the Golden Griffins rattled off five straight points to take a 25-24 lead. Iona ensured the first game continued with senior
Claire Archibald delivering her seventh kill of the set to knot it up.
Iona got the serve back at 26-26. Canisius committed an attacking error to give the Maroon & Gold the advantage and sophomore
Jamie Smith ended it at 28-26 with her fourth kill of the set.
Iona hit .161 in the first set. Senior
Emma Rose dished out 15 assists and junior
Jessica Paolucci had eight digs.
Set two began with the same see-saw action of the first. However, Canisius grabbed momentum once it nabbed an 8-7 lead. The Golden Griffins went on a 5-2 run and a separate 4-0 run a spell later to force a Gaels timeout with deficit at 17-10.
Canisius closed out the second set, 25-18. Iona had a negative hitting percentage, -0.26, in the set. The Golden Griffins hit .458, led largely by Sara Wesley and her four kills. Megan Woods had three kills. After a strong opening set, Iona's leading offensive weapons, Archibald and Smith, had just one kill in the second set.
The Maroon & Gold began the third set like gangbusters. Iona won the serve from Canisius with a kill by Smith. Then senior
Amanda Gannon took over at the service line. The Gaels scored six straight points and vaulted in front 7-0 and induced a Canisius timeout. Senior
Mia Bonsignore had four kills and a block in the first half of the set as the Maroon & Gold went into cruise control up 14-3.
Bonsignore had six kills on seven swings in the third set. She also chipped in a dig and two block assists. Rose had all of Iona's 16 assists in the game as Iona cruised to a 25-12 set three decision.
The fourth set had four ties and two lead changes, but none coming after Iona took a 9-8 lead. Rose served a significant run and put the Maroon & Gold up 12-8. The Golden Griffins got back within one at 13-12, but Iona went on another 8-2 stretch to make it 21-14. The championship was clinched with junior
Tess Connolly putting home kill off an assist from
Emma Rose.
STATISTICS
- Bonsignore led all players with 18 points. She had a season-best 16 kills on .500 hitting percentage. Also chipped in a match-best four blocks.
- Archibald had 14 kills and 14 digs. She hit .209 in the match.
- Paolucci led the Maroon & Gold with 15 digs. Smith added in 10 digs in addition to her 11 points.
- Rose had 53 of Iona's 54 assists. She had her first 50 assist game since Oct. 14 against Quinnipiac. It's her seventh 50+ assist game this season.
- The Gaels swept all three matches against the Golden Griffins this season
- With Saturday's win, Iona has won 20 games in a single-season for just the third time in program history. The previous seasons were in 2002 and 2010.
HISTORY MADE
Senior
Claire Archibald became Iona's all-time leader in career kills in the first set of the match. She needed just four to take sole possession of the title and she used a phenomenal first set to pick-up another career milestone.
Archibald surpassed Miki Hogg '05 on the all-time kills list. The two players are linked throughout the Gael record books. Both rank near to or above the top of the all-time rankings in kills, attack attempts and kills per set.
UP NEXT
Iona will find out its opponent in the NCAA D1 Volleyball Tournament on Sunday, Nov. 25 at 8:30 p.m. The selection show is being aired on ESPNU.
SOCIAL MEDIA
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