New Rochelle, N.Y. –Despite jumping out and taking the first set, the La Salle volleyball team (4-6) fell 3-1 (25-16, 24-26, 17-25, 16-25) to Hartford (5-4), Friday afternoon in the opening game of the Iona Invitational.
 
Freshman Bryanna Davis had a stellar performance at libero, racking up a career high 29 digs in the defeat. The offense was led by junior Kelly Perillo who finished the day with 14 kills. Senior Jennifer Whelan also tallied double digit kills in the match, finishing with ten.
 
The Explorers were able to pull away in the first set, despite it being very competitive in the early going. With things tied at 7-7, La Salle went on a 9-3 run to push their advantage to 16-10 and never looked back from there, grabbing the first set 25-16. Sophomore Ashley Felton hit .429 in the first set, finishing with three kills to help La Salle jump out to an early 1-0 lead. The Explorers added five team service aces in the set.
 
La Salle pushed the Hawks to the limit in set two; put dropped a closely fought set, 24-26. Despite allowing Hartford to jump out to a 10-4 lead in the set, the Explorers proved resilient, and tied things at 15-15. The rest  was back-and-forth from there, with the Hawks pulling out the final two points to take the set. Junior Michelle Healy added 12 assists in the set while junior Laura Kuhlmeier added three kills in the set. Davis tallied seven digs in the second set alone.
 
The Blue and Gold started off the third set hot, but were unable to hold up throughout the entire set.  Up 4-0 thanks to two Whelan kills, a Davis service ace and a Perillo kill, the Hawks quickly fought back to tie things up at four. Ultimately, Hartford rallied to the finish of the set to take it 25-17. Perillo again paced La Salle with four kills in the set to go along with five digs.
 
Hartford was able to close out the match by taking the final set 25-16. Davis provided double digit digs in the set, tallying 13. Felton, Perillo, Whelan and Kuhlmeier all had multiple kills leading a balanced Explorer attack.
 
The Explorers return to action tomorrow on the second day of the Iona Invitational, when they face Bryant (3-7) and the host Gaels (1-6) at 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. respectively.