TOLEDO, Ohio – The Niagara volleyball team split a pair of matches on Saturday to conclude play at the season-opening Blue-Gold Invitational hosted by the University of Toledo. The Purple Eagles fell to the host in straight sets (25-18, 25-20, 25-18), but rebounded with a straight-set victory of their own over Wright State, 25-20, 25-15, 25-16.
Niagara 0, Toledo 3
Box Score
Niagara kept it close, but the host proved to be too much for the Purple Eagles to overcome. Toledo (2-0) took the first set, 25-18, with a match-high .406 hitting percentage; NU’s .200 hitting percentage was its highest in the match.
In the second set, a kill by Hannah Hedrick tied the match at 16-16, but the Rockets went on a 4-0 run to pull away for a 25-20 second set win.
The Purple Eagles were up 12-10 in the third set which forced a Toledo timeout. The Rockets responded with a 6-1 run and won the set 25-18 to close the match.
Hedrick had a match-high 15 kills.
“We were not able to offensively get anything going,” head coach Susan Clements said. “Our serving was much improved, but we still need to become consistent.”
Wright State 0, Niagara 3
Box Score
NU (1-2) bounced back in the afternoon with a straight-set (25-20, 25-15, 25-16) win over Wright State (0-3) for its first win of the season.
“We played with more focus and intensity,” Clements said. “It was a win we needed and we need to keep building for the next matches.”
The Purple Eagles improved throughout each set. NU had a balance attack with Kari Honomichl, Amanda Wilken, Ellen Senf and Hedrick combining for 46 of NU’s 53 kills. Three Purple Eagles had double-digit kills in Honomichl with 15 (match-high), Hedrick with 13 and Wilken with 10.
Niagara used big runs in the second and third sets to roll to victory. The Purple Eagles had hitting percentages of .448 and .486 (season-high) in the second and third sets, respectively, while only committing two errors in each set.
Michelle James had her second double-double of the season, joining Hedrick and Honomichl on the list, with 41 assists and 12 digs. Sam Morgan had a match-high 15 digs to extend her double-digit digs streak to 99 matches. Morgan is 35 digs shy of tying Micole Daluisio (’05) for most digs in program history.
Hedrick was Niagara’s representative on the 2011 Blue-Gold Invitational All-Tournament Team.
Niagara is back on the court on Wednesday, Aug. 31 when it plays at in-state foe Binghamton at 7 p.m.
