NEW YORK, N.Y. – The Yeshiva University women's volleyball team suffered a hard-fought loss to Culinary Institute of America, in straight sets, on Sunday afternoon. Set scores were 25-22, 25-22, and 25-15.

Leading the way for the Maccabees (1-6) was senior libero Dalia Sieger, who anchored the defense with 27 digs, once again setting a new career-high.  Senior middle blocker Gavriela Colton led the attack with nine kills, while classmate Yael Ghelman had a team-high 14 assists.

In the first game, the Maccabees trailed 14-9, but slowly started to chip away at the deficit. Colton and senior setter Esther Alexander combined for back-to-back kills to pull the home team to within one, at 19-18. Later in the set, YU scored four unanswered points to take a 22-21 advantage. The Steels (1-3) responded by slamming home four consecutive kills to take the first game, 25-22.

In the second set, the Maccabees got off to a strong start, as Ghelman slammed home a kill to help Yeshiva jump out to an 11-6 lead. Later in the game, Colton produced a kill to make it 13-8 in favor of YU. Culinary Institute went on an 8-3 run to tie it up at 14. The Maccabees responded by scoring three unanswered points, thanks to two kills by Alexander and one by senior outside hitter Batya Schreier, to put the Macs back in the lead. After CIA rallied and tied the set at 18, senior outside hitter Emily Neckonoff scored a service ace to put Yeshiva back in front. After Culinary rallied to take a 21-20 advantage, junior middle blocker Abigail Epstein slammed home a kill to tie the game. However, the visiting team went on a 4-1 run to close out the set and put the Maccabees on the brink.

In the third game, senior outside hitter Ilana Leggiere scored an ace to even the score, 12-12. CIA rallied again, this time scoring four unanswered points, to take a 16-12 advantage. After Colton's kill narrowed the opposition's lead to 16-14, CIA went on a 9-1 run to clinch the set and the match.

For the afternoon, Yeshiva showed great effort on defense. Ghelman added 13 digs, while Leggiere added a career-high 11 digs of her own. Neckonoff produced eight digs, Colton added five, and Schreier recorded three. Ghelman and Epstein each added two blocks.

On the attack, Alexander had four kills, while Schreier slammed home three. Sieger had a kill and an assist. Leggiere scored two service aces and a kill, while Ghelman had a kill and an ace. Epstein slammed home a kill of her own.

Yeshiva will be back in action on Tuesday, for a non-conference match at Lehman College, beginning at 7:00 p.m.