Box Score 

LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. –The Niagara Purple Eagles wrapped up their weekend with a 3-1 win over the Rider Broncs on Sunday to sweep the series for the fourth straight season.

NU (14-10, 11-3 MAAC) moved into a first place tie with Fairfield (16-8, 11-3 MAAC) with its fifth straight win.  Niagara, however, had a few scares along the way. NU had to comeback from a set down and rallied to take the third set.

Rider (11-13, 4-10 MAAC) upended NU in the first set. The Broncs scored three of the final four points in the set to win 25-22. The Purple Eagles roared back to take the second set. NU built a 20-10 lead from a 13-4 run, which included four kills by Ellen Senf.   NU had its back to the wall in the third set. Rider led 23-20 when NU reeled off five straight points. Kari Honomichl started the run with a kill and was followed by consecutive kills by Senf to tie the set at 23-23. After two Rider timeouts, the Purple Eagles regained the lead on a kill by Taylor Edmonds and an ace by the career leader, Honomichl, won the set.

The Purple Eagles rode the momentum from the third set into the fourth set, while hitting a match-best .412 percentage. Niagara broke open the match with a 6-2 run to take a lead 18-12. NU scored the last four points to close out the match.

Senf led the match with a season-high 19 kills, which were her most since she had 24 versus Iona last October, and had a match-high .500 hitting percentage. Senf recorded seven digs which are a career-best.

Honomichl was second on the team with 17 kills and had 15 digs for her team-leading 13th double-double of the season. Michelle James joined Honomichl in the double-double category with 45 assists and 18 digs. Amanda Wilken notched 11 kills for her first double-digit kills match in eight matches.

Niagara will host Saint Peter’s (Nov. 3) and Manhattan (Nov. 4) in its final home weekend. Both matches will be broadcast on Lockport Community Television (LCTV).