LOUDONVILLE, NY – After winning three of their last four matches, the Siena Saints were cooled off by the Quinnipiac Bobcats on Wednesday night. The Bobcats defeated the Saints by a final score of 3-1 (25-20, 14-25, 26-28, 22-25) at the UHY Center.
 
"Our team navigated through both highs and lows," said head coach Vilis Ozols. "There were some really nice strings of execution. As we keep growing and developing those will become more sustained because the talent is there."
 
Siena was led by a 13 kill performance from graduate student Emily Wunder, while freshman Olga Sawinska was the other in double figures with 11 kills on the evening. Sophomore Meghan Johnsson reached 40 assists, the second straight match she has done so. Junior Gracie Halley also led the defense with 20 digs.
 
The Bobcats had multiple contributors on offense, led by 11 kills from Aryanah Diaz. Nicole Legg and Georgia Tselepi also reached double-digits with 10 kills apiece. Diaz completed a double-double by adding 13 digs, as Faavae Kimsel Moe led the way in that category with 15 digs.
 
Siena came out strong in the first set, jumping out to an early 5-1 lead in the first set. Both sides would go back and forth on runs, ultimately leading to a slight 17-16 lead for the Saints midway through the set. From there, Wunder would take over and bump up her kill totals as the Saints outpaced the Bobcats scoring down the stretch. Wunder would total eight kills in the first set, scoring the last four points for the Saints on kills as Siena took a 25-20 win to go up 1-0.
 
The script would flip in the second, as Quinnipiac took advantage of Siena errors and take a 25-14 win in the second set. With the score 1-1, the third set would be a battle. Siena held control for much of the set, even holding a 20-14 lead after back-to-back kills from Wunder. That would preceed a 5-0 run from Quinnipiac to come back within one at 20-19. Both sides would battle it out to a 24-24 score, with the Bobcats gaining advantage at 25-24 with an attack error from Siena. Siena would come back, and have multiple chances with set point but couldn't find the point. Quinnipiac would end things after three straight points gave them a 28-26 win to go up 2-1.
 
Quinnipiac ended it in the fourth, as Siena pushed forward but trailed the duration of the frame. The Saints would get within two points at the end with a 24-22 score, but after a timeout the Bobcats got a kill from Tselepi to end it.
 
The Saints return to action on Saturday, Oct. 9 when Siena plays host to the Niagara Purple Eagles. Opening serve for the first of two weekend matches for Siena goes up at 1 p.m.