LOUDONVILLE, NY – Siena Volleyball got things off on the right foot by earning a sweep over visiting Saint Peter's at Friday evening at the UHY Center to open conference play in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) under first-year head coach Tyler Kanelos.

The Saints (5-8, 1-0 MAAC) hit a robust .413 for the match, hardly keeping their foot off the pedal by hitting .467, followed by .448 and then .333 in the closing set to defeat the Peacocks for a 12^th consecutive time. 

Siena received big performances from graduate student outside hitter Elizabeth Phillips, who finished with a double-double with 10 kills and 13 digs and hit .667 for the match.

Junior right side Doga Diraz produced her 10^th match this season with double-digits in kill with 14.  The Ankara, Turkey native has also surpassed her kill total from all of last season.

She now has a team-leading 176 kills in 48 sets played (3.60 kills per set). 

Sophomore setter Alara Doganyuz had a team-best 27 assists while Gabrielle Wire contributed with nine kills and Mary Claire Deacy added six kills on just 12 swings. 

The Saints served up eight aces as well with two apiece from Diraz, Phillips, Autumn Willmott and one each from Doganyuz and Natalia Clifford. 

Siena started strong, gaining a 4-0 advantage in the opening set after kills from Wire and a pair from Diraz as well an attacking error the Peacocks. 

Siena had another mini-spurt of four straight points later in the set to capture a 14-7 edge after two more kills from Wire and a pair of attacking errors from the Peacocks. 

Saint Peter's got within four points of the lead, but Phillips closed it out with a kill from Willmott. 

In the second set, the teams played to a 6-6 draw before Siena took six of the next seven points behind the serving of Phillips and Ella Treasure. 

Kills by Phillips, Deacy, Wire and another from Deacy with Alandra Hasbrouck setting them up provided an 11-7 cushion.

After the Peacocks (5-7, 0-1 MAAC) got within one point of the lead, Siena responded by taking nine of 10 points with an ace from Diraz and two more aces from Phillips. 

A service error by SPU finished it out.

The Peacocks got off to their best start in the third set by winning the first three points and took a 6-2 advantage with Sibana Gonzalez Acevedo and Karolina Rodriguez Mendez each earning kills during that span. 

Siena roared back with 11 consecutive points with Willmott serving behind the line.

During the run, Diraz had three straight kills on feeds from Doganyuz then Willmott served a pair of aces.

Two more kills from Treasure and one each from Diraz and Phillips made it 14-7 Siena.
 
Saint Peter's battled back with a 9-0 run of their own to tie it at 20-20 with solid serving from Lagean Colon, who picked up two aces during the spurt. 

Siena took five of the last six points with Diraz, Phillips picking up big kills down the stretch as well as a combined block from Berra Tok and Diraz.   

Next up, Siena has a short turnaround and will host Rider (2-8) on Saturday at 2 p.m. at the UHY Center.