It wasn't exactly the result that the SUNY Potsdam volleyball team had been seeking, but their match at SUNY Canton had shown progress from the last time these teams met just three and a half weeks earlier this season in the Victory Promotional Invitational.

Back on September 7 at Maxcy Field House, Canton had swept Potsdam.

On Tuesday night, the Bears (9-10) looked very much a different team as it forced a fifth set before finally succumbing to the Kangaroos 16-25, 25-18, 25-18, 18-25, 15-13 in a nonconference game.

Canton improved to 15-2.

"For us, it was up and down," said first-year SUNY Potsdam coach Josh Stokes. "We came out hot. We reduced our errors. Then, we had a couple of missed serves. We didn't really monopolize on the opportunities we had. But, that's how the game goes."

Jenna Blujus (Baldwinsville, N. Y. / C. W Baker), the reigning SUNYAC Player of the Week , was at it once again by recording her seventh triple double of the season for the Bears with 19 digs, 12 assists and 10 kills.

Lauren Manzo (Clovis, Calif. / San Joaquin) had a team-high 18 assists and 11 digs. Junior outside hitter Liza Fields (Duanesburg, N. Y. / Duanesburg) contributed with 13 digs and eight kills. Senior Sara Anderson (Lake George, N. Y. / Lake George) had eight kills.

Despite falling behind two sets to one, Potsdam didn't go down quietly as it was able to push it to five sets and make Canton sweat down the stretch.

"They definitely have the fight in them," coach Stokes said. "We just have to find ways to keep that tenacity. Tonight, it was missed serve after missed serve. "

And, there was noticeable improvement seen by Stokes.

"We did a better job controlling the ball and gave us an opportunity to run some offense. We definitely picked up that aspect of it, but we cooled ourselves down by making those errors. "

Potsdam will be back on the court Saturday when they travel to Brookline, Mass. to play Daniel Webster College at 12 p.m. and then Newbury at 2 p.m.