NEW ROCHELLE, NY — The Iona College volleyball team completed its 2015 campaign with a four set loss at MAAC Regular Season Champion Fairfield. After taking the first set 25-20, the Gaels fell in the final three 25-14, 25-15, 25-20 on the road.
Freshmen OHs Claire Archibald and Amanda Gannon had 12 kills apiece. Archibald completed her team best 11th double-double of the season with 11 digs. She added a block and an ace to account for her 13.5 points. Gannon hit .211 and had seven digs and an ace. Senior Kiana McAuley-Pomeroy had seven kills and three blocks in her final game in Maroon & Gold. Senior setter Natalie Ziskin also completed her Gael career with 18 assists and five digs. Freshman setter Emma Rose posted 17 assists and rookie libero Jessica Paolucci had a team-high 14 digs in the loss.
Ziskin completed her Iona career with 2,906 assists, the second highest overall total in school history and the most in the rally scoring era. Her 96.4 serve percentage is the highest in school history for those with more than 500 attempts. Ziskin had just 46 errors in 1,280 service attempts. She also recorded 694 digs, which is 22nd all time.
Junior Kate Brodnax will be Iona’s third graduate this upcoming May joining McAuley-Pomeroy and Ziskin.
Iona’s freshman trio of Archibald, Gannon and Paolucci made their mark on Iona’s rookie record book in 2015. Archibald ranks No. 1 in kills (378) and No. 3 in digs (326). The kill total was the fifth highest single-season effort in school history. Paolucci’s 538 digs ranked No. 2 for an Iona freshman while Gannon was fourth on the list with 282 digs. Paolucci’s dig total was the eighth-highest total overall and fifth-highest since the 25-point set era.
Fairfield had four performers record double-digit kill totals in the win. Skyler Day and Megan O’Sullivan led the way with 14 kills apiece. Day and Megan Theiller each had double-doubles. Setter Sydney Buckley posted 50 assists and seven digs while libero Taylor Rudeen posted 19 digs.
Iona finished eighth in the MAAC in 2015.