Sept. 20, 2006
Final Stats | Photo Gallery
Siena and Binghamton dueled for nearly two and a half hours at the Alumni Recreation Center before the Saints emerged with a 3-2 (25-30, 40-38, 30-26, 17-30, 15-8) victory. Senior Christie Gustafson posted a double-double with 19 kills and 12 digs to pace the Saints effort in a regionally telecast and world wide webcast match Wednesday night in Loudonville.
The Saints (6-7) won a marathon second game 40-38, fighting off a furious Bearcats (3-11) to seize momentum and tie the match 1-1. Siena took the third game 30-26 and appeared in control of the match, but Binghamton rallied for a convincing 30-17 win in the fourth. In the decisive fifth game, the Saints got out to a strong start behind the serving of junior Jessica Hackett and cruised to a 15-8 victory.
Middle hitter Burgandy McCurty killed 17 of her 37 attacks (.351), while Nadiege Honore returned to action to post 14 kills. Kelly Hummel had 11 kills to complete Siena's double-digit performers.
Binghamton ha d a considerable size advantage and dominated the action at the net, out-blocking the Saints 13-4. Jacki Kane was in on nine of the blocks and tied for the team-lead with 17 kills. Kathleen Schauer also had 17 kills and added six blocks.
The Bearcats compiled a .247 attack percentage compared to just .188 for Siena, but Siena held a 77-69 advantage in total kills.
Siena setter April London notched 66 assists and eight digs. Freshman Kaui Robello anchored the Saints defense with 19 kills. Hackett (15), Kathi Kobayashi (14) and Gustafson (12) each reached double digits as well.
It was the fourth straight win for the Saints, who improve to 3-0 on the season at home. Siena went undefeated in its TW3 telecast matches last season.
Siena returns to MAAC action Saturday against Saint Peter's at 2 p.m.
