NEW ROCHELLE, NY - The Iona College volleyball program fell in straight sets (19-25, 23-25, 21-25) to Siena at home on Sunday afternoon. Iona falls to 7-13 on the season and now are 5-7 in conference play. Senior outside hitter
Cassandra Patsos and sophomore outside hitter
Emma Jacobs led the Gaels offensively with nine kills each.
The Match
Set 1 (19-25)
In the opening set, early kills from Jacobs, and two from senior
Alessandra Brady brought us to a tie at 4-4. Siena won the ensuing five out of six points to open up a 10-5 lead and the Saints wouldn't look back in the frame, opening up their lead to 16-10 and 19-12. Trailing 23-15, the Gaels rallied off four straight points to bring the set to 23-19, after a kill from Brady and an ace from freshman
Julia Caruolo. Siena would win the next two points off two Iona errors to close out the frame, 25-19.
Set 2 (23-25)
The Gaels opened up a 5-2 advantage to start the second set after consecutive aces from senior
Maile Powell. Following the sequence, junior
Fleur Wiersma and Brady poured in kills, leading to junior setter
Samantha Juran to contribute with an ace, giving Iona a 9-6 lead. Siena responded with a 4-1 stretch to knot up the frame at 10 and from there it was back-and-forth. After four more lead changes bringing us to another tie at 19, kills from junior
Julia Thomas and Patsos forced the Saints to call timeout trailing 21-19. Siena came out of the timeout firing, winning six out of the set's final eight points to win 25-23, with Sara Wagner closing it out with a kill for the Saints.
Set 3 (21-25)
Similar to the previous set, the third frame was up for grabs with 14 lead changes and no school leading by more than four points. Dead locked at 14, Siena poured in four consecutive points to give them an 18-14 lead and momentum to close out the match. The Gaels continued to fight despite committing 13 errors in the frame, and trailing 20-16 Iona cut into the deficit after consecutive kills from freshman
Nerin Valasakos and Patsos. Unfortunately for the Gaels, the Saints took a 24-20 lead and after fighting off one match point, Maddy Dunigan closed out the match with a kill giving Siena a three set victory.
STAT LEADERS
Juran finished with a match-high 29 assists and sophomore
Hope Matschner contributed defensively with a team-high 14 digs in the loss. Brady and Wiersma finished with five and four kills, respectively.
UP NEXT
Iona continues their three game home-stand when they return to the Hynes Center Tuesday night. The Gaels face NJIT in their last non-conference match of the season. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m.
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