The Siena Saints finished off a season sweep of the Iona Gaels on Sunday afternoon, led by graduate student Emily Wunder's 12 kills in a clean 3-0 victory on the road. Siena has now defeated both Manhattan and Iona in both matchups this season.
 
"There was so much for our squad to be happy about in that match," said head coach Vilis Ozols. "A road sweep is hard to come by and typically means you must be doing something well. Our team played with confidence, and they played their best in pressure moments. The team will take a lot from this match to build on."
 
Wunder added four blocks to her resume on the afternoon, with senior Abby Huffman supplying six blocks that included two of the solo variety. Freshman Sara Wagner and senior Maddy Dunigan each supplied nine kills apiece. Junior Gracie Halley completed a solid defensive weekend with 14 digs. As a team, the Saints would hit a season-high .310 over the complete match.
 
For the Gaels, both Cassandra Patsos and Emma Jacobs had nine kills. Samantha Juran tossed out 29 assists, and Hope Matschner had 14 digs. Iona struggled offensively, hitting only .160 over the three sets.
 
Siena jumped out to a strong start in the first set, as a scoring burst capped by back-to-back aces by Halley would give Siena a 10-5 lead. The Saints continued to score in bunches throughout the set, as Iona would help the Saints with two errors at the end of the set to clinch the 25-19 victory for the Green and Gold to go up 1-0.
 
The Gaels would control much of the second set, leading 21-19 late. But, an attack error kickstarted a four-point run by Siena that featured two straight aces from Greta Stjade and a kill from Wunder to give Siena the 23-21 lead. Iona would trade points with the Saints over the final four rallies, as Wagner would supply a pair of kills on the Siena points to clinch the 25-23 set win to go up 2-0.
 
In the third, it would be a battle throughout as Iona got out to a 14-13 lead. From that point, the Saints scored five points in a row to flip the score in their favor, 18-14. That would give the Saints all the cushion they would need to close out the match, as Dunigan shut the door on the Gaels with a kill to win the set 25-21.
 
The Saints are back in action next weekend, Saturday, Oct. 30 when they play host to Saint Peter's at 1 p.m. at the UHY Center.