In a pivotal match up with playoff implications on the line, Siena Volleyball dropped their match at Merrimack 3-1 (21-25, 25-21, 18-25, 21-25) on Sunday afternoon at Bert Hammel Court in North Andover, Ma.
Siena (6-22, 5-11 MAAC) came into the day with hopes of improving its chance for a playoff push, but things became more difficult after the setback with just two regular season matches remaining and now sitting two games behind the Warriors and Iona Gaels for the last two potential playoff seeds.
Merrimack (8-18, 7-9 MAAC) got 14 kills and 12 digs from Mckenna Shotwell, Julz Carlat added 13 kills and Lilly Konrad had a game-high 23 assists for the Warriors.Â
Siena rallied from an early 10-4 deficit in the first set to take a 15-14 advantage after a 4-0 run sparked by an ace and a kill from
Hannah Bowman. Merrimack took seven of the nine points and then Marissa Kobelski came up with a kill to take the set.
The Saints came out firing with a 7-1 lead in the second set, sparked by kills from
Sara Wagner and
Doga Diraz. Another 5-0 run with kills from Diraz,
Olga Sawinska and three straight kills from Wagner pushed the lead to 12-3. Siena led 23-17 with a kill from
Sina Toroslu, and three consecutive aces from Toroslu. Wagner put away the last points for Siena for the set.Â
Merrimack led 5-0 in the third set with Sophia DeBonis serving behind the line. The Warriors kept an arm's length lead throughout and cruised with a kill from Shotwell to go up two sets to one.
In the fourth set, the teams exchanged points back and forth until the score was tied at 10-all. Merrimack went ahead 16-12 on a kill by Kobelski, an attack error by Siena and an ace off the hand of Kobelski. Siena locked it again at 16-all with four straight points with kills from
Ella Treasure, Wagner, Sawinska and a Merrimack attacking error.
The score became tied again at 21-all on a kill by
Salme Adeele Hollas before Merrimack sealed the match with four straight points.Â
The Saints will next host Niagara (13-14, 9-7 MAAC) on Saturday at 2 p.m. Â
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