AKRON, OHIO – The Niagara Purple Eagles were defeated by the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles, 25-22, 25-22, 25-23, on Saturday to conclude play at the Akron Invite.

Niagara (0-6) was competitive in every set today, just like it did throughout the invitational, but the youthful Purple Eagles were upstaged by the Golden Eagles (3-3). 

"The team played really well this weekend; they were tied or contending at the end of the game in every single match," head coach Vilis Ozols said. "Part of the natural maturing process for a young team is to learn how to win and we are getting close to that."

In the opening set, the Purple Eagles sprinted out to an early 6-2 lead, but TTU battled back and took the lead en route to winning the set 25-22. NU was down 8-2 in the second set, but closed the deficit to 23-20 before falling 25-22.

Niagara's most promising set was the third, which was a back-and-forth affair. Facing match point at 24-21, Niagara scored consecutive points on a kill by Logan Rae and an attack error by TTU. However, the Golden Eagles wrapped up the match on the en suing play.

Amanda Sedore led the team with 11 kills, Allison Reis led NU with 10 digs and Emily Hopkins had a team-best 30 assists for her second career 30-plus assist match.

Sedore was named to the all-tournament team for the second straight week. The junior from Webster, N.Y. had double-digit kills in all three matches while averaging 3.56 kills per set and 2.22 digs per set.

Niagara remains on the road next weekend with two matches in Mississippi against Mississippi State and Wofford.