Iona Volleyball Completes Weekend Sweep With Win Over Niagara
NEW ROCHELLE, NY – The Maroon & Gold ensured a weekend sweep on Sunday afternoon with a four set victory (25-19, 23-25, 25-20, 25023) against Niagara. Junior Tess Connolly led the Gaels with her most statistically impactful match of the season.
GAME SUMMARY
Connolly led a contingent of five Gaels who had double-digit kills. She recorded a season-best 19 kills and 19 points. Senior Claire Archibald had 12 kills. Junior Karla Johnson had a sneaky 11 with a .435 hitting percentage. Sophomore Jamie Smith and freshman Cassandra Patsos each had 10 kills. The rookie had a team-best .450 hitting percentage. Iona was able to escape the first set with a win despite having six service errors and eight attack errors. The rebuttal for the Gaels own mistakes was their defense. Niagara had just seven kills in the first set. The second set had 13 ties and four lead changes, but the Purple Eagles eked out a 25-23 edge that evened the match at the time. Niagara hit a match-best .237 hitting percentage. They had a match-low three attack errors and a game-high two aces. The defense reestablished itself for the Maroon & Gold in the third set. Iona used a 6-1 run midway through the match to push itself ahead 16-11. The teams traded points for the remainder of the set until Archibald & Rose ended it with Connolly serving. Iona closed out the fourth and final set behind four service aces, three of which were poured home by sophomore Taylor Cole.
STATISTICAL NOTES
Iona came out with two wins this weekend despite having its two highest service error totals this season. The Gaels had 17 against Canisius on Saturday, and 14 against Naigara on Sunday.
Gaels only had one block in the match. It's the second time this season they recorded just one block; the other came in the season-opener against Valparaiso on Aug. 25.
Connolly now has three straight games with double-digit kills. She had not had more than nine kills in a match before Iona's contest against Fairfield (Sept. 23)
Rose finished the match with 54 assists. It's the first time she has recorded 50+ assists in back-to-back games in her career. She also hasn't committed a setting error over the past two games.
UP NEXT
Iona's next match is at home against the Rider Broncs on Wednesday, Oct. 3. First serve will be at 7 PM and it can be viewed in person at the Hynes Center or online on Iona Insider.