AMHERST, N.Y.  – The Niagara Purple Eagles battled to two narrow defeats against Temple and Buffalo on the last day of the season-opening UB Invite on Saturday.

"It is always tough to lose three matches, but the team really came together this weekend," head coach Vilis Ozols said. "We faced some tough competition, we had a few match points (against Temple), but I am very happy about where this team is going."

Niagara 2, Temple 3

It was tale of two different matches within one for Niagara.

Niagara was held in check by Temple through the first two sets. The Purple Eagles were held to .068 hitting after dropping the first two sets, 25-11 and 25-14.

However, the Purple Eagles turned the match around in the third set.  NU was the beneficiary of a fast start for once, taking a 6-1 lead. The Purple Eagles held on to the league of the entire match, even when Temple cut the lead to 21-20. Four straight attacking errors by the Owls ended the set.

The Purple Eagles played their best set of the season in the fourth set, behind Melissa McGwin and Chelsea Watson.  The pair combined for 18 of Niagara's 23 kills in the third and fourth set, including McGwin's set-high eight kills in the fourth. Niagara rallied from an early deficit in the set to take a 20-16 lead behind consecutive kills by McGwin. With the match tied at 21-21, the Purple Eagles reeled off four the next five points to force a fifth set.

Niagara led 11-5 in the fifth set and looked on its way to its first win of the season. Though, Temple's 9-3 run tied the match at 14-14. McGwin put Niagara up 15-14 with her 16th kill of the season. However, the Owls would score the final points of the set the win the match.

McGwin finished with a team-best and career-high 16 kills; her .516 hitting percentage led the match. Watson and Amanda Sedore each finished with 10 kills. Emily Hopkins had career-highs with 35 assists and 11 digs for her first career double-double.

Niagara 0 Buffalo 3

The Purple Eagles' matchup with UB was much more competitive than the one played on Friday. All three sets were close throughout. Niagara trailed 19-18 in the first before the Bulls scored the final six points in the set.  In the second set, NU and UB were tied at 23-23 before consecutive kills wrapped up the set for Buffalo.

Trailing 17-11 in the third set, Niagara went on an 8-2 run to tie the match at 19-19. Though once again, Buffalo closed out the set the better of the two to seal the win.

Hopkins led Niagara with 18 assists and added four digs. McGwin and Sedore each had a team-high six kills and were both named to the UB Invite All-Tournament team. McGwin had 2.09 kills per set and had a .327 hitting percentage and Sedore had 2.0 kills per set and 1.91 digs per set in the three-match invitational.

Niagara heads to Akron, Ohio next weekend to face Akron, Milwaukee and Tennessee Tech as part of the Akron Invitational.