Niagara University, N.Y.—The Niagara volleyball secured a three set sweep of Saint Peter's on Saturday afternoon at the Gallagher Center.

First Set

Niagara came out of the gates swinging to open the match as they took an early 7-1 lead which forced a Saint Peter's timeout. The timeout didn't slow Niagara down as they then extended their lead to 11-4. Niagara held the lead for the remainder of the set as they closed out the set with a 25-19 advantage.

The Purple Eagles had 12 kills in the set with Lexi Bapst having a set high five kills. Payton Lee, Cassie Seminoff, and Jenna Vogen all had two kills in the set. Niagara as a team had four blocks in the set as Vogen had four block assists, Laryssa Imbuzeiro had three block assists while Janiah Robinson also tallied a block assist. Kylie Blessing had seven assists in the opening set while Casey Brown had three. Libero Bella Peroni had five digs while Blessing had four, Bapst had three, and Brown had two.

Second Set

The second set opened with the teams trading points until the score was tied at four. Following the back-and-forth play, Niagara took a 10-5 lead. Saint Peter's narrowed the lead down to two at 10-8 but that was as close as the set would end up being. Niagara went on to the take the set 25-17 to take a 2-0 advantage in the match.

Niagara had a hitting percentage of .314 in the second set while five Purple Eagles had a kill in the set. Seminoff had a set high eight kills on 15 attacks for the Purple Eagles. Both Bapst and Imbuzeiro had two kills while Robinson and Lee each had one in the set. Brown tallied eight assists in the set while Blessing had four, Peroni also added one. Bapst had 10 digs in the set while Seminoff, Blessing, Peroni, Bown, and Imbuzeiro each had two in the set. The Purple and White had four blocks in the set once again, Imbuzeiro, Robinson, and Seminoff each had two block assists while Vogen and Katie Jacobs had one block assist each. Niagara held Saint Peter's to a .049 hitting percentage in the set.

Third Set

For the first time in the match, Saint Peter's held a lead early in the third set but Niagara traded points with the Peacocks until it was 8-8. That would be the last time that the match would be tied as a kill from Bapst made it 9-8. The Purple Eagle lead grew to as much as five in the set on multiple occasions as the Purple Eagles took the 25-20 win in the third set.

Niagara used kills from six different Purple Eagles to account for 14 kills. Lee and Bapst tied for the set high with four while Seminoff and Vogen had two. Both Imbuzeiro and Robinson had one kill in the set. Niagara had two blocks in the set, Imbuzeiro had one solo block, Robinson and Vogen combined for the other block for the Purple Eagles. Niagara had three aces in the set with Blessing, Bapst, and Paisely Ka'ahanui all had one ace.

Niagara Notes

·       Niagara moves to 10-5 in MAAC play this season and sits in fourth place in the MAAC.

·       The Purple Eagles are 33-22 all-time against Saint Peter's. Niagara has won 19 straight matches against Saint Peter's.

·       Seminoff had 12 kills to lead the team while Bapst had 11 to lead the team.

·       Blessing had 14 assists to lead the team. Brown had 11 assists and is now 13 assists away from 1,000 career assists.

·       Niagara had 10 blocks in the match, Niagara has had eight matches this season with 10 or more blocks, they are 5-3 in those matches. Vogen had a team high six total blocks while Imbuzeiro improved her MAAC lead with five.

·       Niagara will honor its senior class on Sunday prior to its match against Rider. Vogen, Brown, Bapst, and Seminoff will be honored.

Up Next

Niagara closes out the home portion of its schedule on Sunday at one 1 PM as they host Rider at the Gallagher Center.