Siena Volleyball put forth a valiant effort in pushing Quinnipiac the distance before dropping a close contest 3-2 (26-24, 16-25, 13-25, 25-18, 12-15) on Saturday afternoon at Burt Kahn Court in Hamden, Ct. 

The defeat puts a damper on Siena (6-21, 5-10 MAAC), who was seeking to move up in the conference standings for the potential eighth-and final—playoff spot to qualify for the MAAC Tournament that begins on Nov. 21 at the UHY Center.

However, the Saints will have some work to do to get there as Merrimack (7-18, 6-9 MAAC), the team who currently occupies the eighth seed, won on Saturday against Marist in five sets. 

Both Siena and Merrimack have three remaining regular season matches left and will play each other tomorrow at Merrimack. 

In the first set against Quinnipiac on Saturday, Siena roared out with a .452 hitting percentage (15 kills against just one error).  The teams battled back-and-forth, exchanging the leads with rallies of their own.   The Bobcats took a 13-10 lead before the Saints rallied with a five-point run to take a 15-13 edge after an ace from Oliwia Majtyka. 

QU took the next three points on a pair of aces from Carola Negron Diaz to go back up 16-15. 

Neither team captured more than two-point advantage the remainder of the set.  Siena re-took the lead at 23-22 when Doga Diraz smacked a kill.  Siena closed it out with a pair of attack errors from the Bobcats.

Siena ran out to a 5-2 lead early in the second set with a kill by Diraz.  Quinnipiac responded emphatically with a key 6-1 run to take a 9-7 advantage.   Siena would tie it at nine after a combo block off the hands of Ella Treasure and Olga Sawinska.  Quinnipiac took command from there, getting big production from Yagmur Gunes and Elena Giacomini. 

Quinnipiac carried that momentum into the third set by running off seven consecutive points and closed by scoring six of seven to easily take it.

It appeared that Quinnipiac might be on their way to a four-set win by jumping out to a 12-7 advantage.

But, Siena had other ideas as the Saints strung together eight straight points to take a 15-12 lead. 

Siena grabbed the last four points including kills from Salme Adeele Hollas and Majtyka. 

QU led 7-2 in the deciding set with Negron Diaz serving well behind the line. 

Siena got back to tie it at 12-all on kills from Hollas and Diraz. 

Gunes, Giocomini picked up kills and Gunes aced it the for the match. 

Wagner led Siena with 14 kills and eight digs with four total blocks. 

Diraz added nine kills, Hollas contributed with eight kills, five digs and three total blocks while Majtyka had a team-high 15 assists and eight digs. 

The Saints will next play at Merrimack (7-18, 6-9 MAAC) on Sunday at 1 p.m.