LOUDONVILLE, NY – The Siena Volleyball team found themselves in a duel on Saturday afternoon in their home and MAAC opener at the UHY Center. Despite falling to the Iona Gaels by a final score of 3-0 (23-25, 22-25, 24-26), the Saints fell just the slim margin of seven total points in the three sets combined. In total, the match finished with 30 tied scores and 13 lead changes over the three sets.
 
Graduate student Emily Wunder led the Siena attack, collecting 16 kills to lead all players. Iona's Feir Wiersma led the Gaels in kills, supplying nine on the afternoon. Sophomore Sara Wagner fell just short of a double-double with nine kills and 13 digs, with Gracie Halley putting up 23 digs. Iona's Hope Matschner led all players with 26 total digs.
 
Siena found success early, jumping out to an early 7-3 lead in the first set. Iona began to take advantage of some Siena errors, and pulled even midway through the set. Siena battled, and pushed to a 23-20 lead late in the set after a sneaky kill from setter Claire Isaksen. But the Gaels ran off five straight points to take the set 25-23.
 
That momentum carried through the rest of the match for Iona, as the Gaels led for most of the second and finished it with a 25-22 final as they staved off a late Siena push. In the third, Iona looked to be running away as they pulled to a 16-12 lead.
 
A 5-0 run by Siena brought the Green and Gold to the lead at 17-16 before Iona pulled away again – marking match point with a 24-20 lead. Siena dug deep to tie things up after a 4-0 run – capped by a service ace from Wagner. With the score tied, Iona took points off a service ace and attack error by Siena to close the door for the win.
 
Sophomore Ece Emrullah also had a standout performance with nine kills and five blocks. As a team, the Saints finished with more total kills than the Gaels (40-38), and more total blocks (8-7). However, the Gaels finished with seven aces to Siena's three on the match.
 
The Saints return to action tomorrow, Sunday, Sept. 18 at 3 p.m. right back in the UHY Center to take on the Manhattan Jaspers.