Senior Valerie Arnone had 11 kills vs. St. Peter's Sunday.

JERSEY CITY, N.J. – The Niagara University volleyball team (4-16, 0-2) lost its third-straight match when it lost its second five-game match (23-30, 15-30, 30-20, 30-18, 15-13) of the season Sunday afternoon at St. Peter’s (3-19, 2-1) in the Yanitelli Center on the St. Peter’s College campus.

"The lesson from today’s match is to finish game three," Niagara head coach Rocco Lucci said. "We took them too lightly and they pulled themselves together and played better."

Sophomore Michelle LeSouder (Stratford, Ont.) posted a match-high 25 kills and hit .390 for the match. Sophomore Erin Graham (Oakville, N.Y./Oakville Alabama) had a double-double with 10 kills and 10 digs and senior Valerie Arnone (Buffalo, N.Y./Kenmore West) added 11 kills. Libero Micole Daluisio (Lancaster, N.Y./Lancaster) recorded a match-high 16 digs and setter Jennifer Hansford (Stratford, Ont.) registered a match-high 51 assists.

In the fifth and deciding game, St. Peter’s jumped out to a 5-1, but Niagara rallied back to pull even at 7-7. Neither team led by more than two until the Purple Eagles went up 13-10 on a pair of kills from LeSouder.

The Peahens broke Niagara’s serve on a kill from Serra Soylu and cut the deficit to 13-11. St. Peter’s then ran off four-straight service points by Michal Hausfater to claim the win.

Niagara posted its second-best attack percentage of the season, hitting .347 with 62 kills, 20 errors on 121 attempts. The Purple Eagles also out dug the Peahens 52-29, but St. Peter’s capitalized on 16 aces and 11 blocks.

The Purple Eagles controlled the first two games of the match by hitting an impressive .440 in the first game and .520 in the second. St. Peter’s responded in game three and four by hitting .364 and .433.

St. Peter’s was led by Soylu, who had 21 kills, three solo and five block assists.

Niagara returns to action Wednesday when it hosts Buffalo at 7 p.m. in the Gallagher Center.