JERSEY CITY, NJ – The Siena Volleyball team could not shake a slow start and dropped their Metro opener at Saint Peter's 3-1 by the scores of 11-25, 21-25, 25-21, 27-29 held at Victor R. Yanitelli, S.J. Recreational Life Center on Friday night.
Siena (5-8, 0-1) did rally back by hitting .484 in the third set and pushed the fourth to 29-27 before Saint Peter's closed out the match.
Saint Peter's dropped to 1-11 overall and 1-0 in Metro play.Â
Mary Claire Deacy led the Saints with 15 kills, 19 digs.
Abby Edwards finished with 31 assists, six kills while hitting .625 with two aces and nine digs.
Maggie Seymour posted a team-high six total blocks and added two aces.
Hannah Bowman recorded a career-high nine kills with seven digs, two blocks and an ace.
Set-by-Set
The Saints dropped the first set 25-11 after Saint Peter's turned a 7-4 edge into a 16-4 lead with nine straight points, including four aces during Meleksu Ozmen's turn at the line. Earlier,
Brianna Miller put the Saints on the board with a kill from Edwards, and Seymour followed with an ace to bring the Saints within 4-3. Deacy added a kill from Edwards to stop a short Saint Peter's stretch at 7-4, but the Saints could not sustain the response as Saint Peter's continued to score in clusters. Edwards and Deacy added kills later in the set, and the Saints put together three straight points at 24-8 behind kills from Deacy and Bowman plus a Saint Peter's attack error before Saint Peter's closed the set.
The Saints' fullest response came late, when they turned a 20-14 deficit into a 21-21 tie behind two Bowman kills and a block by Seymour and Bowman. Earlier, the Saints trailed 3-2 before Deacy delivered consecutive kills, Seymour and Bowman combined on a block, and
Brooke Malek added an ace for a 6-3 edge. The Saints extended the early advantage to 9-4 with points that included a Seymour kill and an Edwards kill, while Edwards also set up early kills by
Gabrielle Wire,
Alison Goldberg and Seymour. Saint Peter's worked back to 11-11, and after the Saints stayed even at 13-13 on a Saint Peter's attack error, the home side built a 20-14 lead. After the Saints reached 21-21, Saint Peter's scored the final four points to take the second set, 25-21.
The Saints took the third set 25-21, building an eight-point cushion in the middle stages and then answering Saint Peter's late push with consecutive Deacy kills. Deacy helped the Saints respond to an opening ace with three early kills, and Bowman, Seymour, Goldberg and Wire also finished swings as the Saints moved ahead 11-7. The Saints kept the set moving in their favor through the middle with points from Wire, Goldberg, Edwards and Seymour, plus blocks involving Seymour, Deacy and Goldberg, before Edwards served an ace during a stretch that took the score from 19-14 to 22-14. Saint Peter's scored five straight points after the Saints reached 23-16, closing to 23-21, but Deacy's two kills from Edwards assists ended the set for the Saints.
The Saints erased a 17-15 deficit with four straight points on Bowman's serve, getting two Saint Peter's attack errors, Bowman's ace and a Seymour-Wire block to move ahead 19-17. Earlier, the Saints answered a run of three straight Saint Peter's aces with kills from Bowman, Deacy, Wire and Edwards, keeping the set level through 13-13 before Saint Peter's pushed back in front. The Saints added late pressure with a Wire kill, a Goldberg block and an Edwards ace to build a 23-19 lead, but Saint Peter's won the next four points to tie the set. After the Saints reached set point at 24-23 on a service error and later tied the set at 25, 26 and 27 on kills by Deacy and Edwards, Saint Peter's scored the final two points to take the set 29-27.
Up Next
Siena heads across the state to take on Rider (1-9, 0-1) on Saturday at 6 p.m. from the Canastra Hammer Arena in Lawrenceville. Â
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