Senior
Antonija Ivanovic and sophomore
Brooke Rogers each put up seven kills, as the Siena Saints ended their regular season on Sunday afternoon. After snagging a win in the first set, the green and gold fell to the Iona Gaels, who clinched the MAAC Tournament's top seed on Saturday, by a final score of 3-1.
Siena (4-27, 2-16), played well defensively throughout the match, as sophomore JoJo Ishida led the way with 16 digs. Ivanovic snagged 13 digs to go with her seven kills, as sophomore
Dakota Jackson put up six kills on offense. Running the offense was sophomore
Jessica Eblin, as she tossed out 24 assists.
For Iona (18-7, 16-2), Claire Archibald pulled a double-double with a team-high 13 kills and 15 digs for the Gaels. Jamie Smith backed that up with 12 kills, and Mia Bonsignore was the other Gael in double-digits with 10 kills. Setter Emma Rose was solid on offense, passing out 46 assists.
"The team came out and played really tough early," said head coach
Vilis Ozols. "You have to give Iona credit for roaring back like that. Brooke had a very nice match out of the middle and we played some of the best defensive rallies we've had all season in today's match."
The first set belonged to the Saints, as Siena played toe-to-toe with Iona through a 10-10 score. Siena then got kills from Jackson and senior
Katarina Nicic, along with an Iona error and service ace from Eblin to grab a 14-10 lead. Siena then put up an 8-2 run to take a 22-13 lead in the set, setting them up for the victory in the set. Despite Iona grabbing three more points, so did Siena as an Eblin kill and attack error gave the Saints a 25-16 win in the set to have them go up 1-0.
Iona got things going in the second set, as they jumped ahead early and didn't let off the gas. An 8-0 run after a 15-9 lead made things 23-9. Kills from Archibald and Smith tied up the match at 1-1. The Gaels leapfrogged to the lead in the third set, as they took a 7-4 lead early to 19-6 thanks to a 12-2 run. While the Saints were able to grab a pair of points, the Gaels finished things off in the set with six straight points to take a 25-8 win to go up 2-1.
The Saints made things interesting in the fourth set, as they did not let Iona get a big lead throughout the set. Clinging to an 18-17 lead, the Gaels ran off three straight points to create some cushion and causing Siena to call a timeout. Out of the break, the Saints collected a pair of points on a kill from Rogers and an ace. But Iona put the stops up as they scored four of the next six points to take the 25-21 win, taking the match 3-1.
The Saints now head into the MAAC tournament as the number ten seed, and will face the #3-seeded Rider Broncs in the first round on Thursday afternoon. First serve is set for 10 a.m. at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena, FL.
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