YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO – The Niagara volleyball team collected two convincing wins on Saturday to finish second at the Youngstown State Invitational. The Purple Eagles defeated the Youngstown State Penguins 3-1 (25-14, 23-25, 25-21, 26-24) and the Howard Bison in straight-sets (25-19, 25-14, 26-24).

“I feel today was a great stepping stone in the right direction,” head coach Susan Clements said. “We seem to have found the line-up that will make us very competitive.”

Niagara 3, Youngstown State 1

Junior setter Michelle James orchestrated an attacking masterpiece for the Purple Eagles with a career-high 57 assists.  Niagara (4-3) had a season-high with 63 kills and four Purple Eagles had double-digit kills: Hannah Hedrick had a season-high 15 kills, Kathy Bibler had a season-high 13 kills, freshman Ellen Senf recorded a career-high 13 kills and Amanda Wilken had 10 kills.

Niagara had a hitting percentage of .314 in the match and set the tone for the match in the first set. The Purple Eagles took the first set, 25-14, behind a .462 hitting percentage. After narrowly dropping the second set 25-23, NU battled to take the third set, 25-21. The Purple Eagles held off a late Penguins (1-5) rally to win the fourth set, 26-24. 

Sam Morgan finished with 29 digs, one short of her career-high, and Kari Honomichl had an impact on the attack with nine kills.

Howard 0, Niagara 3

NU topped Howards (1-6) in straight-sets in its final match at the YSU Invitational.  The Purple Eagles continued their superb attacking percentage of the day, finishing with a .313 attacking percentage compared to Howard’s .085. Niagara also had a .446 set percentage for its second highest of the season.

After a slow start, NU went on a 9-2 run to seize control of the first set and had a similar run to win the second set, 25-14. The Purple Eagles grinded out the third set for to close the match. Senior Lauren Costello’s service ace clinched the match for Niagara, 26-24.

The Purple Eagles had another well-balanced attacked. Honomichl had a team-high nine kills and was followed by Hedrick and Senf, who both had eight, and Wilken who finished with seven kills. James provided 31 assists and Morgan’s 13 digs bring her double-digit digs streak to 69 matches.

“We were able to really serve well,” Clements said. “It was a great team effort and test our focus to come out and win that last set.”

Niagara placed two Purple Eagles on the all-tournament in Hedrick and Morgan.

Niagara returns home to play the Binghamton Bearcats on Wednesday, Sept. 8 at 7 p.m.