NEW ROCHELLE, NY - The Iona College volleyball team fell in a back-and-forth five set (25-23, 20-25, 22- 25, 26-24,10-15) match at home to Marist on Saturday afternoon. Iona managed to grab the first set, and then after dropping sets two and three the Gaels rallied in the fourth, fighting off a match point to force a decider. After winning four straight, Iona has lost two straight dropping them 7-12 and 5-6 in MAAC play on the season.
 

The Match

 

Set 1 (25-23)

Iona jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the opening set, freshman Nerin Valasakos contributed to Iona's first three points with a kill followed by consecutive aces. Marist responded using an 8-3 run helping the Red Foxes take their first lead. From there it was neck and neck with six lead changes before the Gaels used a 6-2 run to close out the first set, 25-23. Senior outside hitter Cassandra Patsos added six kills and junior Samantha Juran poured in 11 assist in the first set. As a team Iona had it's best hitting percentage of the match at .313%.
 

Set 2 (20-25)

Marist got it going offensively to start the second set, pouring in six kills to help open up an 8-2 advantage. The lead would grow to as much as seven in the frame, as it was the most deceive set during the match with the Red Foxes winning 25-20 to draw us even at one set apiece. 
 

Set 3 (22-25)

The third set was back-and-forth with nine lead changes throughout the frame with both schools trading mini-runs. Tied at 7, Iona used a 8-3 run powered by five kills with three of them coming from senior Alessandra Brady to take a 15-10 lead. Quickly Marist answered, winning the next five points taking advantage of three straight attack errors from the Gaels, bringing us dead locked at 15. After another tie at 20, the Red Foxes closed out the set winning five out of the last seven points, as Iona committed 11 errors to go along with their lowest hitting percentage at .085% 
 

Set 4 (26-24)

After a slow start, trailing 12-5 and then 14-7, it looked like Marist was close to pulling out the match in four sets however, the Gaels showed off their resiliency storming back. The comeback came late, down 21-15 the Maroon & Gold won seven out of the next eight points to draw us even at 22. During this 7-1 stretch the bench provided the spark with junior Julia Thomas adding a kill followed by Brady pouring in kills on three consecutive points. After a kill from Gabriella Heimbauer who had a match-high 24, Marist had a match point but Brady came up  big with another kill, keeping Iona's chances alive. The Gaels won the next two points to complete the fourth set comeback and most importantly bring us to the fifth set.
 

Set 5 (10-15)

In the deciding set, it was Marist who stood tall and regained momentum from the second and third set, winning 15-10 and closing out the match on a 6-2 stretch to give the Red Foxes the victory.
 

STAT LEADERS

ON OFFENSE:

In defeat Patsos posted a double-double with a team-high 15 kills and 11 digs. Brady finished with 11 kills and sophomore Emma Jacobs for the fifth time this season was in double-figures finishing with 10 kills. Junior Fleur Wiersma added nine kills and sophomore Jen Soto added eight kills rounding up the Gaels offensive attack. Juran was one of her season best, pouring in 43 assist, marking it the third time the setter has reached 40+ assist this season.

ON DEFENSE:

Defensively, sophomore libero Hope Matschner led the Gaels with 24 digs as she's now reached 20 or more digs in nine matches this season.
 

UP NEXT:

Iona's right back in action tomorrow afternoon for a home contest against Siena. The match will be on ESPN3 with first serve scheduled for 1 p.m.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Be sure to follow Iona College athletics on all social media platforms:
ICGaels: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube (Email Updates)
Iona Volleyball: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube (Email Updates)

Tweet #ICVB
Tweet #MAACVB
Tweet #GaelNation