PITTSBURGH, PA – The Iona College volleyball team lost to the No. 12 Pittsburgh Panthers in the opening round of the NCAA Volleyball Tournament. The Gaels historic season came to a close in straight sets (24-26, 18-25, 15-25). Iona finishes the 2018 campaign with a program record 20 wins and its second ever Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championship.

MATCH SUMMARY

The first set had 17 ties and six lead changes. Iona fought tooth and nail and forced Pittsburgh to call timeouts with the score tied at 11 and when the Gaels were ahead, 19-17. The Panthers were able to pull out the first set with a 4-1 run. The Maroon & Gold had set point at 24-23 following a kill from sophomore Jamie Smith, but Nika Markovic knotted the game at 24 for her teammate Kayla Lund to put it away on the service line.
 
Junior Tess Connolly had the Gaels with four kills and a .273 hitting percentage in the first set. Senior Emma Rose began the evening with 11 assists on the Gaels 17 kills. Junior Jessica Paolucci had seven digs.
 
Markovic had four of her match-high 16 kills in the opening game.
 
Pittsburgh honed down defensively over the second and third sets. The Gaels had 17 kills combined over the remainder of the match.
 
The Panthers led from the onset and carried to a lead as large as eight at 21-13. The Gaels made its run with five straight points behind the serving of rookie Cassandra Patsos. She had a kill off an assist from senior Claire Archibald and Iona's all-time kill leader helped lead to a Pittsburgh timeout at 21-18. The Panthers came out of the break and scored four straight points to put Iona in a two-set hole.
 
Iona had just four digs in the set after collecting 16 total in the opening. The Gaels hit .120 compared to .462 for Pittsburgh.
 
The Panthers were led in the second set by Markovic and Kayla Lund, each of whom had five kills.
 
The Maroon & Gold fell in the third set 25-15. Iona hit a match-low .056 with Archibald having a team-best three kills. Connolly and senior Mia Bonsignore each had two kills. The third set was the only one where the Gaels did not record a service ace.
 
Markovic had seven kills on nine swings in the third. She also had a team-best five digs. Kamalani Akeo and Kylee Levers each had seven assists.

Pittsburgh advances to the second round tomorrow evening, Sunday, Oct. 1. The Panthers face off against the Michigan Wolverines.

NOTABLE NUGGETS

• This is the Maroon & Gold's second appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The Gaels were swept in straight sets by top-ranked Nebraska in 2004.
• Iona's 24 points in the first set is the highest for a MAAC school since Manhattan won a set against Temple in the 2001 NCAA Tournament.
• Iona's first set is the most points scored against Pittsburgh at home since Oct. 21. The Louisville Cardinals lost the Panthers, but were able to steal a set at 28-26.
• Iona was held to a season-low 33 assists. Rose had a season-low 22 helpers. The Gaels had its second-lowest hitting percentage of the season at .098. The Maroon & Gold also had a season-low 32 digs as a team.
• Iona tied a season-best with five solo blocks. Archibald, Connolly, and Bonsignore each had one block. Junior Karla Johnson had two solo blocks.
• Archibald led the Maroon & Gold with 12 kills. Connolly led the Gaels with 12 digs in addition to six kills. Bonsignore had six kills and a team-high .429 attack percentage.
• Pittsburgh only lost one regular season match. The Duke Blue Devils beat them on Oct. 28 in four sets. Taylor Cole's younger sister Mackenzie Cole is a student-athlete on Duke's program.

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