Senior Maddy Dunigan was the lead recipient of a strong showing from sophomore setter Meghan Johnsson on Sunday afternoon, as the Siena Saints rode the duo to a 3-1 (26-24, 25-18, 23-25, 25-18) victory over the Saint Peter's Peacocks on the road. With the victory, the Saints are now winners of three of their last four matches.
 
"I thought Meghan ran an amazing offense today feeding our big dogs as shown by the double digit kill efforts," said head coach Vilis Ozols. "We also picked up our defense and blocking and those were key differences for us today."
 
Dunigan's 17 kills are a new season-high, while graduate student Emily Wunder and senior Abby Huffman each collected 10 kills. Johnsson was the standout player for Siena, tossing out a new career-high 48 assists while falling a dig short of a double-double with nine. Junior Gracie Halley and freshman Sara Wagner each had 17 digs on the match as well, as the Saints defensively totaled a season-high 18 blocks as a team.
 
Saint Peter's was led by a 12-kill, 15-dig effort from Alanis Alvarado, with Lily Barnhill also getting into double-digits with 11. Wildalys Soto tossed out 31 assists, as Saint Peter's racked up 30 total errors on the match, hitting only .100 as a team.
 
It would be a close matchup in the first set, as Siena displayed their defense early. However, Saint Peter's was the aggressor, and were able to take a 21-17 lead after a four-point run late in the set. After two Saints points, Saint Peter's were able to get the sideout and take a 22-19 lead. From there, Siena ran up five points in a row to take a 24-22 lead, forcing set point. Just as things looked done, Saint Peter's got two points off a pair of Siena attack errors to bring things to 24-24. But Wunder and Huffman each stepped up for kills to take a 26-24 win to go up 1-0.
 
Siena then dominated the second set, as they took advantage of Saint Peter's errors early in the set. The Peacocks would make a late run in the set, but the Green and Gold wrapped things up with a 25-18 win to go up 2-0 in the match. Saint Peter's came through in the third set however, as the close matchup would go their way with a 25-23 final. That would send the match into the fourth set with Siena leading 2-1.
 
In the fourth, it would be all Siena as they opened a 6-1 lead right off the bat. They continued to hold the lead throughout the set, as they scored the final five of six points of the set with a 20-17 lead. The scoring run to clinch the match would feature a trio of kills from Dunigan, capping her career day.
 
The Saints return to action this week on Wednesday, Oct. 6 when the Saints will play host to the Quinnipiac Bobcats at the UHY Center. Opening serve for the matchup will get things going at 6 p.m.