Siena Volleyball turned out a much-improved performance on the road, showing grit in forcing the first five-set match of the season, before losing a nail bitter 3-2 (17-25, 25-23, 23-25, 25-21, 12-15) to Manhattan on Saturday afternoon at Draddy Gymnasium. 
 
The Saints (2-19, 2-9 MAAC) hit .300 or better in a pair of sets and rallied back furiously for a notable second set winner.  Junior outside hitter Sara Wagner put down a season-best 19 kills, 19.5 points and 11 digs. 
 
Siena appeared to have momentum into the fifth set, reeling off the first three points and led 10-7 with two kills from junior right side Olga Sawinska in the stretch.  But Manhattan rallied for a 7-0 defining run behind the serving of Sophia Lotto, two kills from Mikalah Curran and a series of mistakes from the Siena offense. 
 
The Saints were befallen by costly errors, committing eight attack errors in the final set.
 
Manhattan got off a quick start in the opening set, taking a 10-6 advantage behind the serving of Dominique Velarde.  After a kill by Siena's Kayla Jones, the Jaspers reeled off four more on a pair of attack errors by the Saints and kills by Elenoa Sing and Curran.
 
Manhattan led 20-10 after three kills by Maike Bertens in a stretch of four straight points.  Siena won five of six highlighted by kills from Sawinska and Sonja Meyer to get within 21-15 before the teams traded points the rest of the way. 
 
In the second set, Siena rallied back from deficits of 15-5 and 20-11 behind a 5-0 run with Meghan Johnsson serving behind the line and three kills from Wagner during the spurt.  After two points scored by Manhattan, Siena burst through with an 8-0 run to capture the set.  Wagner set the tone with four more kills during this stretch.
 
The third set bounced back the Jaspers' way after the Saints led as late as 20-18 in the set.  Seven different Saints accrued at least one kill in the set, but the Jaspers were able to win six of seven points with three kills from Sing, two attacking errors and a bad set by the Saints. 
 
Siena fought their way back into it by taking the fourth set with the most kills they would have in a single set all afternoon with 15.  Siena would go up 10-6 after a kill by Jones and an ace from Hannah Bowman, who was receiving her first action since Aug. 26.  After the Jaspers clawed back to within one at 13-12, Siena rolled off five straight with two kills from Bowman, one from Sawinska and another from Wagner. 

Manhattan would respond with consecutive points, but the Saints fired off five straight again with Sawinska, Wagner and Bowman all notching kills as well as a bad set by the Jaspers and an ace from Jones.  Manhattan came firing back with a 6-0 run, but Siena sealed it with a kill from Jones on a feed from Claire Isaksen. 
 
Freshman libero Payton Hinkle had a team-high 12 digs.  Isaksen had a team-high 22 assists, one shy of her season-best mark set against Quinnipiac on Sept. 24, and added eight digs.  Sawinska and Jones each tallied nine kills with four blocks.  Bowman finished with personal best of seven kills and eight digs. 
 
Next, Siena will play at Iona (10-12, 6-5 MAAC) on Sunday at 1 p.m.