All-Tournament selection Jennifer Hansford

NIAGARA UNIVERSITY, N.Y. – The Niagara University volleyball team lost both its matches Saturday at the Bucknell Invitational in Lewisburg, Pa., and dropped to 1-9 on the season.

The Purple Eagles lost 30-24, 30-25 and 33-31 to Cornell (3-3) and 30-28, 30-25 and 30-27 to Duquesne (5-6).

"We played good against a great team (Cornell)," Niagara head coach Rocco Lucci said. "We had the lead in all three games, but we didn’t have enough punch to put it away. Against Duquesne, we had a lot of opportunities to score, but mental mistakes were the difference."

Junior Erin Graham led the Niagara offensive attack, collecting 12 kills vs. the Big Red and a match-high 15 kills against the Dukes. Freshman Raelean Rush (Amherst, N.Y./Sweet Home) was also in double digits in kills with 11 vs. Cornell and 10 against Duquesne.

All-tournament selection, junior Jennifer Hansford, had 56 assists in the two matches and 17 digs. Junior Micole Daluisio (Lancaster, N.Y./Lancaster) registered a match-high 11 digs vs. the Dukes and a match-high 23 against the Big Red. Graham had 11 digs in the first match.

Sophomore Annie Wachob (Buffalo, N.Y./Mount St. Mary’s) put up a big block, recording three solo and three assisted blocks vs. Duquesne and a solo stop against Cornell.

Niagara hit .166 vs. the Dukes and had eight team blocks. Against the Big Red, the Purple Eagles hit .132 and was limited to four blocks.