Lake Buena Vista, FL—The Niagara Volleyball team opening the postseason on Wednesday as they played in the opening game of the MAAC Championship Tournament. Niagara took the opening two sets and won the fourth set to take the match.
Game Recap
First Set

• Niagara opened the postseason by going on an 8-2 run after multiple kills from Liana Tolliver and Kelly McArthur.
• The Purple Eagles once again opened the set more as they held a 14-8 lead after another kill from Tolliver.
• After 30 points in the opening set, Niagara had an 11 point lead as it was 19-11.
• With the big lead Niagara took six of the last eight points to win the opening set.
• The trio of Tolliver, Jenna Vogen, and McArthur combined for 13 kills with Tolliver and Vogen each having five kills.
• Kylie Blessing led the Purple Eagles with seven assists while Tolliver also led with seven digs.

Second Set

• Saint Peter's opened the second set with a bit of run of their own, they led 5-3 after eight points.
• Niagara bounced back and tied the set at six. The Peacocks and Purple Eagles traded points until the Purple Eagles took the lead and made it 15-8.
• After trailing to open the set, Niagara dominated the rest of the set as they won the second set 25-15 to take a 2-0 lead in sets.
• Tolliver picked up where she left off in the opening set and had a set high six kills for the Purple Eagles.
• Both McArthur and Casey Brown had five assists in the set. Kinga Wronska and McArthur tied for the team lead in digs in the second set.

Third Set

• Just like the second set, Saint Peter's controlled the start of the set as they led 7-2.
• It took 24 points for the Purple Eagles to tie the game at 12 despite trailing to that point in the set.
• Niagara gained momentum from there and led by six as it was 22-16. With their season on the line Saint Peter's came back and took the third set 27-25.
• Tolliver's strong match continued in the third set as she notched four kills in the third set.
• Brown led the team with four assists in the third set while Blessing and Wronska each had three assists in the set.
• Eight Purple Eagles had digs in the set with Blessing and Wronska each having six apiece.

Fourth Set

• Through first five points, both teams were trading points until Niagara opened up a nine point lead to make it 14-5.
• Niagara stayed on the gas and took the final set 25-15 to advance to the next round.
• Tolliver closed out the match with four kills in the fourth set while Laryssa Imbuzeiro also had four kills in the set. Allen, Vogen, and McArthur all had two kills in the fourth set.
• Brown and McArthur each had six assists in the final set of the day. Wronska led the set with nine of the 14 team digs.
• Imbuzeiro also had the lone ace for the Purple Eagles in the fourth set.

Niagara Notes

• Tolliver set a new career high with 19 kills in the match while she also had three assists which is the most she has had in a match this season.
• Peroni, Brown and Imbuzeiro all had aces for the Purple Eagles while Imbuzeiro had the lone block for Niagara.
• McArthur notched 17 assists while Brown had 15 assists as those two combined for 32 of the teams 56 assists.
• Wronska had 25 digs in her first career post season game, this comes one game after she set a new career high with 37 digs against Siena on Sunday.
• This is the first MAAC Tournament win since the shortened 2020-21 season in which they beat Iona in straight sets.

Up Next

• Niagara advances to the quarter finals as they will take on the top seed in Fairfield tomorrow at 11 am.