Fairfield, CT—The Niagara volleyball team fell in its second MAAC game of the season as they fell in straight sets to the Fairfield Stags on the road on Sunday afternoon.
First Set
Niagara and Fairfield played a back and forth opening 10 points as Fairfield held a slight 6-4 lead. The Stags went on a 19-7 run to close out the opening set and take the 1-0 lead.
Of the 11 Niagara points in the first set, seven of the points came on kills. Payton Lee, Liana Tolliver, and Kinga Wronska each had two kills while Cassie Seminoff added one kill. Paisley Ka'ahanui had six assists while Kylie Blessing had two in the first set. Blessing also accounted for a service ace in the first set. Laryssa Imbuzeiro and Megan Bruno also teamed up for a block in the set.
Second Set
The Purple Eagles tallied the first two points of the set which was followed by a 10-4 run by the Stags to take a 10-6 lead. Fairfield continued to build the lead as they took an 18-12 lead. Niagara started to claw back later in the set as they made it 22-19 but that was as close as they would come as Fairfield won the set 25-20.
Wronska had a team high six kills in the second set while Lee and Seminoff both had three kills. Ka'ahanui once again led the team with eight assists while Blessing earned five assists. As a team Niagara had two blocks as Seminoff, Imbuzeiro, Tolliver, and Bruno all had block assists. Tolliver also had one ace in the set.
Third Set
Fairfield opened the third set with a 3-0 run and held a 5-1 lead after six points. Niagara responded with a 9-5 run and tied the third set at 10. Following the tie, Fairfield took 15 of the next 19 points to clinch the third set with a 25-14 win.
The Purple Eagles had seven kills in the set with Tolliver having a team high three kills in the set. Imbuzeiro added two kills while Wronska and Lee both had one kill. Both Blessing and Ka'ahanui had three kills while Bella Peroni had one assist. Niagara had three blocks in the set with freshman Janiah Robinson having one solo block and two block assists. Seminoff and Wronska both had block assists in the set as well.
Niagara Notes
· Wronska had a team high nine kills while Tolliver set a new season high with seven kills against the Stags.
· Both Ka'ahanui and Blessing had double digit assists as they had 14 and 10 respectively.
· Peroni had a team high 13 digs with nine different Purple Eagles having a dig.
· Niagara had six blocks in the match, Niagara had five or more blocks in eight of ten matches this season. Niagara is second in the MAAC in blocks as they average 1.91 per set.
Up Next
Niagara returns to the Gallagher Center on Sept. 23 and 24 as they host Iona and Manhattan, both matches are scheduled to start at 1 PM.
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