Syracuse, N.Y. – The Le Moyne College volleyball team closed out the Syracuse Invitational by hosting Siena University at Ted Grant Court on Saturday night. The Saints took the match, 3-0, against the Dolphins, with set scores of 25-20, 25-10, 25-21. Le Moyne now sits with a 1-10 record on the season.
In set one, the Saints came out to a quick 4-0 lead before the Dolphins worked to cut the deficit to two points, 8-6. Siena eventually re-extended their lead to seven points at 21-14 before closing out the set, 25-20. The visiting squad came out firing in set two to take a 10-2 lead and worked their way to a 22-8 lead late before claiming a 25-10 set victory. Set three was mostly back-and-forth as the Dolphins took a 12-11 lead and tied the game back up, 19-19, after giving up multiple points. The Saints were able to pull away, however, with three straight points towards the end of the set and took the match with a 25-21 win in the third set.
Junior opposite hitter Branwyn Lupton (Napanee, O.N. / Napanee District Secondary School) led Le Moyne with seven kills against the Saints while sophomore outside hitters Nina Salas (Austin, T.X. / McNeil) and Piper Hooey (Elmira, N.Y. / Elmira) each recorded another five. Senior setter/DS Haley Gerken (Buffalo, N.Y./Frontier) led in assists with 13 in the match, while tying freshman middle hitter Eiley Schneider (Ramsey, N.J./Ramsey) with the team-lead in service aces (two).
On defense, Salas and junior libero/DS Haley Buescher (Toledo, O.H./St. Ursula Academy) both recorded a 'Phins-leading six digs while Lupton tallied three blocks and both Schneider and senior middle hitter Nil Ezgi Tasdelen (Izmir, Turkey/Ugur Okullari) added another two.
For Siena, Doga Diraz led with a match-best 15 kills while Gabrielle Wire tallied another 10 in the win. Alara Doganyuz added a team-leading 21 assists along with tying Natalia Clifford with two service aces apiece. Defensively, Autumn Willmott led with 14 digs as Diraz and Berra Tok stood at the top of the statsheet with three blocks each against Le Moyne.
What's Next:
Le Moyne will travel to Holy Cross for their final non-conference match of the season in Worcester, Mass. at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 30.
