Siena Volleyball ran into a hot-hitting Syracuse squad as the Saints dropped a three-setter to the Orange (19-25, 14-25, 10-25) on Friday evening at the Women's Building to open their play in the Syracuse Invitational. 

Siena (3-7) hit .144 for the match while Syracuse (7-2) gained momentum throughout, hitting .371 in the first set followed by a set of hitting .438 and put it all together with a .619 mark in the final set. 

Doga Diraz led the Saints with 11 kills, sophomore setter Alara Doganyuz tallied 12 assists while freshmen Natalia Clifford and Autumn Willmott each contributed with seven digs apiece. 

Gabby McLaughlin stood out for the Orange with 14 kills, nine digs and two blocks while Veronica Sierzaznt added 10 kills with no attacking errors, three digs and two blocks. 

Siena enjoyed its biggest lead at 5-1 in the opening set with Clifford serving behind the line and kill production coming from Diraz and Berra Tok. Clifford added an ace for the early advantage. 

The Orange rallied back to take a 7-6 lead on an ace from Piper Willinger, but Siena responded with three consecutive points on a Syracuse attacking error, a kill from Diraz and a bad set by Syracuse's Tehya Maeva. 

Syracuse took 10 of the next 12 points to take a 17-11 edge with Rana Yamada serving for the Orange. 

Siena got within three points of the lead at 20-17 off a kill from Tok and assist from Doganyuz. 

However, Syracuse won five of the final seven points in the set highlighted by a pair of kills from McLaughlin. 

In the second set, the teams traded off the opening 12 points before Syracuse settled in with a key 7-0 run to take a 13-7 advantage. 

Siena reeled off four straight points later in the set with a kill from Ella Treasure, an attacking error by McLaughlin and a kill each from Wire and Deacy.

But the Orange closed it out with the last four points coming on kills from Oreva Evivie, Sierzant, and McLaughlin.

Once again, Siena took the early lead, going up 7-5 after a kill by Elizabeth Phillips fed by Doganyuz. 

But, once again, Syracuse responded with a 7-0 run to take control with Maeva serving behind the line. 

Syracuse finished strong, winning the final seven points of the set as well. 

Next up, Siena takes on St. John's (3-8) on Saturday at 11 a.m.

The Red Storm defeated Le Moyne in three sets (25-21, 25-15, 25-17 earlier in the day. 

The Saints will also take the trip over to play at Le Moyne (1-8) on Saturday at 6 p.m. to finish out their time out in Central New York this weekend.