NORTH TONAWANDA, N.Y. – The Niagara Purple Eagles concluded their conference home opening weekend with a close 4-3 setback against the Saint Peter’s Peahens on Sunday.

Niagara (3-9, 0-3 MAAC) narrowly lost the doubles point, 2-1, but bounced back in singles to take a brief lead. Hilary Hansen defeated Alexandra Livingston, 6-3, 6-1, and Ashley Ta eased past Joneisa Williams, 6-1, 6-0, for her second straight win on the weekend.  Maria Ortiz took the first set before her opponent retired as the Purple Eagles led 3-2. With the match tied at 3-3, Jessica Nowogrodzi topped Viki Sardellitti in straight sets to win the match for the visitors.

“This was a tough loss…this is the fourth 4-3 lost we had this spring,” head coach Anthony Nguyen said. “The women are continuing to compete, but this makes our upcoming conference matches extremely important.”

Niagara will travel for its next two matches against Siena on Friday and Marist on Saturday.

Saint Peter's College 4, Niagara University 3

Singles competition
1. Hansen, Hilary (NIAW) def. Livingston, Alexandr (SPCW) 6-3, 6-1
2. Ungurean-Halagian, A (SPCW) def. Celan, Iva (NIAW) 6-0, 6-4
3. Ta, Ashley (NIAW) def. Williams, Joneisa (SPCW) 6-1, 6-0
4. Ortiz, Maria (NIAW) def. Grbelja, Ivana (SPCW) 6-1, 1-1, retired
5. Brady, Jemila (SPCW) def. McCune, Jenna (NIAW) 6-1, 6-1
6. Nowogrodzi, Jessica (SPCW) def. Sardellitti, Viki (NIAW) 7-5, 6-2

Doubles competition
1. Livingston, Alexandr/Williams, Joneisa (SPCW) def. Hansen, Hilary/Celan, Iva (NIAW) 8-4
2. Ta, Ashley/Ortiz, Maria (NIAW) def. Ungurean-Halagian, A/Brady, Jemila (SPCW) 8-3
3. Grbelja, Ivana/Vogel, Vanessa (SPCW) def. Zilka, Rachel/McCune, Jenna (NIAW) 8-4