The Iona College Volleyball team continued their conference play on Oct. 16 with a win against Siena at the Hynes Athletic Center in three sets, 25-23, 25-17 and 25-20.

Senior Alyssa Erickson led the Gaels with a .417 hitting percentage, while also contributing six digs. Seniors Colleen Genett and Rachel Whitten led the team with eight kills.

Senior Allison Nieters played a huge role in beating Siena by contributing 24 digs. This commanding win put the Gaels’ record at 13-6 overall with a 7-2 record in the MAAC.

The following day the Gaels went to Manhattan College to play the Jaspers. The Gaels lost an extremely tough first set at 26-24. They dug deep however and were able to grab the second set 25-16.

After losing the third set 25-13, the Gaels forced another set by winning the fourth set 25-22. On the decisive fifth set, the Gaels fell and were unable to pull out the win, losing the set 16-14. It was a heartbreaking loss, giving the Gaels their third lose of the year in the MAAC.

Genett and Whitten both had 14 kills and freshman Alicja Pawelec had 13. Freshman Madisyn Spence contributed her first collegiate double-digit kill effort with 11. Not to mention, she also had her first collegiate double-double with 11 digs. Erickson had 50 assists with four blocks and three aces. Nieters had 27 digs and senior Bethany Schornack matched her career high with 17 digs.

On Oct. 23, the Gaels suffered their second straight loss when they played the Fairfield Stags in Fairfield, Conn.

It was another tough five-set loss. The Gaels took the first set 25-22. After losing the second set 20-25, the Gaels won the third set 25-18. That was unfortunately the last set the Gaels won, losing the final two sets, 21-25, and 13-15.

Sophomore Theresa Harvey led the Gaels with 11 kills, while Genett had 10. Harvey also added 10 digs, along with Erickson. Erickson also recorded 38 assists, 12 digs, five kills, four aces and three blocks.

The Volleyball team has seven regular season games left, with the next one being on Oct. 24 at Marist College. After Marist, the Gaels have a four-game home stand against the Canisius Golden Griffins, the Niagara Purple Eagles, the Loyola Greyhounds and the St. Peter’s Peahens. The last two regular season games are on the road, going up against the Siena Saints and the Rider Broncs. On Nov. 18, the Gaels will go to Lake Buena Vista, Florida for the MAAC Championships.

 The Gaels were eliminated in the first round  during their previous trip to the MAAC championships by the No. 1 seed Fairfiled University. Iona entered the tournament as the No. 4 seed.

The Gaels are 8-4 on the season against MAAC competition this season and 14-8 overall on the year. Niagara holds the top spot in the conference with a 12-1 record against MAAC competiton and 17-8 overall record. Fairfield comes in at the second spot with 9-3 and Canisius sits in the third sport with a record of 9-4.