LEWISTON, NY - The Iona College volleyball program fell in three tightly contested sets (22-25, 23-25, 20-25) on the road to Niagara University. Iona is in the midst of a five-game losing streak as they fall to 7-15 overall and 5-8 in MAAC play. The Gaels had four players reach double figures in digs and senior outside hitter Cassandra Patsos along with sophomore setter Tamara Pichardo both recorded double-doubles.

The Match

Set 1 (22-25)

Iona got off to a fast start, leading 10-4 and then 13-6 in the opening frame. Early kills from Patsos, junior Fleur Wiersma, sophomore Jen Soto and freshman Nerin Valasakos propelled the Gaels offensively. After Niagara cut the lead to 13-9 the Maroon & Gold responded with four straight kills including one from sophomore Emma Jacobs to open their biggest lead of the set 17-9. However, Niagara crawled back into the frame using a 14-4 run to take control of the set and eventually closed out the first set on a kill from Mary Redl.
 

Set 2 (23-25)

The second set was back-and-forth and after trailing 8-5, Iona earned four consecutive points to take a 9-8 lead. Trading mini-runs the Purple Eagles took a 16-12 advantage but Iona answered with a 6-1 stretch of their own to reclaim the lead at 18-17. Iona poured in a team-best 16 kills in the frame with five different players recording a point off a kill. Three more lead changes occurred before Niagara opened up a 23-21 lead, but Wiersma responded for Iona with back-to-back clutch kills to knot us up at 23. The Gaels only had four errors in the second set but unfortunately for Iona, two of those errors came on the last two points of the set, giving Niagara a 25-23 set victory. 
 

Set 3 (20-25)

Similar to the first two sets both sides played an even set and it wasn't until the end where the Purple Eagles pulled away. Early on, a kill from Pichardo and Jacobs helped Iona build an 8-6 advantage. Niagara recovered and used an important 11-4 run to take a 17-12 as the Purple Eagles wouldn't look back the rest of the way. Iona battled throughout and cut the deficit to three multiple times and a late kill from Jacobs cut the lead to three one more time at 23-20. However, two consecutive kills from Mary Redl closed out the set and match for Niagara to give the Purple Eagles a three set victory. 

STAT LEADERS

ON OFFENSE:

In the loss, Patsos poured in a team-high 13 kills as Jacobs finished with nine kills and Wiersma was right behind her with eight on the afternoon. Junior Samantha Juran and Pichardo contributed with 17 assist each.
 

ON DEFENSE:

 Patsos was one off her season best finishing with a team-high 18 digs and senior Maile Powell recorded a season-high 16 digs. Sophomore Hope Matschner finished with 15 digs, making it the 17th time this season, the outside hitter has reached double figures in digs and Pichardo poured in a new career-high with 11 digs. 

UP NEXT:

The Gaels return to action tomorrow afternoon when they take on Canisius on ESPN3, starting at 1 p.m. 

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