Scoresheet

NIAGARA UNIV., N.Y. – The Niagara Purple Eagles were denied their first conference win of the season in a five-set (22-25, 25-21, 16-25, 37-35, 15-5) defeat to the Manhattan Jaspers on Saturday.

"Wow, what a game today," stated head coach Vilis Ozols. "You have to give Manhattan full credit; they played very, very well. I am so proud of our players. They played with such intensity and had so many opportunities to win this match. We played very well."

Logan Rae paced the Purple Eagles' offense on the day as she made her debut as setter. The converted defensive specialist and outside hitter led the match with 39 assists for the most by a Purple Eagles (1-16, 0-6 MAAC) this season.

Defensively, Niagara racked up a season-high 15 blocks, which are the most since swatting 16 against Iona in Sept. 2007. The Purple Eagles also had a season-high in digs with 79 with Allison Reis leading the team with a career-high 31.

Niagara led 2-1 after three sets, but an epic fourth set changed the course of the match.

The Purple Eagles won the first set 25-22, behind four kills by Melissa McGwin and nine assists by Rae. Niagara dropped the second set, 25-21, despite having its best hitting percentage (.258) of the match.  In the third set, Niagara used an 11-1 run to take a 19-14 lead en route to winning the third set, 25-16.

The fourth set saw a combined 128 attacks and 72 points, 17 ties and nine lead changes. NU appeared on its way to winning the set when it jumped out to an 11-1 lead. Manhattan (11-7, 5-1 MAAC) answered with a 15-3 run to take a two-point lead. With the score tied at 23-23, Niagara and Manhattan traded and exchanged points as neither team could score consecutive points to win the set. The Jaspers finally took the set after scoring two straight points, 37-35.

In the final set, the Jaspers broke a 3-3 tie by closing out the match on a 12-3 run behind a match-best .385 hitting percentage.

A couple of Purple Eagles earned their first double-double of their career. Amanda Sedore had a team-high 14 kills and had 13 digs, while Alex Stone had 12 kills and 11 digs.

Niagara will host Iona on Sunday at 1 p.m.