Siena Volleyball carried leads in each of its sets against Providence, but were once again unable to maintain their rallies down the stretch as the Saints dropped another close affair 3-0 (15-25, 23-25, 23-25) on late Saturday afternoon inside Leede Arena for their opening match in the Dartmouth Invitational. 

The Saints (1-9) led 11-8 and carried a lead as late into the match as 15-14 in the opening set against their opponents from the Big East Conference with some strong play from Olga Sawinska, newcomer Salme Adeele Hollas, Sara Wagner and setter Claire Isaksen.

With the Saints trailing just 16-15, the Friars (6-3) closed it out with a 9-0 run behind three kills from Kayla Grant and the serving of Shea Dupuis.

Siena battled back strong to take a 6-1 lead into the second set with kills from Wagner and Sawinska as well as an ace from Hannah Bowman.  Hollas and Sawinska each picked up a kill to put the Saints up 11-8.  But Providence fought back and went ahead 15-13 after a kill by Dupuis.  Siena stuck around and tied it at 23-all after a Wagner kill and a Providence misfire.  A kill by Lyric Berry and an attack error by Wagner put Providence up two sets to none.

In the third set, the Friars led 6-2 before the Saints took the lead back 8-7 with a kill from Doga Diraz set up by Oliwia Majtyka and a Friars' attacking error. 

Siena led as late in the set as 15-14 and were tied at 16 apiece before Providence won eight of the next 10 points. The Saints did not quit, however, spurting a 5-0 run led by Sonja Meyer on the service line with a pair of aces before Providence was able to win it on a service error.

Next up, Siena will take on host Dartmouth (5-2) on Sunday at 4 p.m. in the Dartmouth Invitational. 

The Big Green will play MAAC opponent Quinnipiac on Saturday at 7 p.m.