FAIRFIELD, Conn. — The sixth-seeded Purple Eagles fell to the No. 3 seed Quinnipiac Bobcats in five sets in the 2016 MAAC Tournament First Round on Friday night.
The Purple Eagles rallied to the match at 2-2, and served for the match point in the fifth set, before falling to the Bobcats for the first time in program history (11th meeting). The Purple Eagles took the first set behind a spectacular .452 hitting percentage (16 kills, two errors on 31 attacks). Leading 12-11, a kill by Nicole Matheis kept the momentum in Niagara’s favor as the Purple Eagles went on to build a 20-14 lead. A kill by Matheis wrapped up the set, 25-19. Quinnipiac went on to win the next two sets with the identical score line of 25-21.
The second set was tied at 10-10 when the Bobcats went on a 9-2 run to force a Niagara timeout. The Bobcats had their best hitting set of the match at .379, though Niagara had a strong .355 hitting percentage. The third set had 11 ties and five lead changes. Quinnipiac scored three straight points to break a 14-14 tie and maintained a cushion of at least two points for the rest of the set. The Purple Eagles regrouped to come away with the fourth set. With the set tied at 11-11, NU reeled off three points to force a Quinnipiac timeout. NU ended the set scoring four straight points.
The fifth set seesawed with momentum swings. After falling behind 2-0, Niagara scored five of the next six points to take a 5-3 lead. Quinnipiac answered with four straight points of its own. With the set tied at 9-9, the Bobcats built a 13-10 lead. However, a kill by Caroline Leitch followed by consecutive attacking errors tied the set at 13-13. Madison May put Niagara back in front with a kill for a 14-13 lead as the Purple Eagles then served for the match. An attacking error by NU tied the set at 14-14. Quinnipiac, then, got kills from Allison Leigh and Natalie Alechko to clinch the match.
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