The St. Lawrence University volleyball team hosted a Liberty League crossover on Friday evening in the Burkman Gymnasium. The Saints hosted "Power of Pink" to help raise money and awareness in the fight against breast cancer. With the gymnasium decked in pink, the Saints rallied past Union College 3-1 thanks to a fantastic performance by rookie Lexi Brown, whose .576 single-match hitting percentage was the fifth-best in program history.

St. Lawrence, which was eliminated from post-season play thanks to an RIT victory, moves to 9-21 on the season after beating the Dutchwomen 21-25, 25-21, 25-22, 25-16. The Scarlet and Brown fell in the opening match to Skidmore College (20-5, 10-0), which remained unbeaten in Liberty League play behind a three-set 25-15, 25-19, 25-22 victory.

"Today was one of our better days of the season. We did a lot of good things against a very talented Skidmore team that just doesn't hand you any points," said St. Lawrence head coach Shelly Roiger. "After being eliminated from the playoff picture, it would have been easy to show up flat for Union but our team was very determined to avenge an earlier season loss to them."

With the match tied at 1-1, St. Lawrence broke the third set open early and took a seven-point cushion. Though the Dutchwomen would close the gap near the end of the set, the Saints were able to hold off the comeback effort and take a 2-1 lead, 25-22. The Saints carried that momentum into the fourth set, as they dominated play from the get-go, winning 25-16 for the win.

Brown finished with 22 kills to only three errors on 33 attempts to pace the Saints' offense. Fellow rookie Christina Deschaine had seven kills to only a pair of errors, while co-captain Anna Kassab had 30 assists. Her co-captains Katie Prue and Jenna Street anchored the St. Lawrence defense with 14 and 12 digs, respectively.

"After falling down 0-1 in the first set, I thought we bounced back in very impressive fashion and just really did a great job of dictating the match by keeping the ball in play both with our serve and our attacks," added Coach Roiger. "The team had very good energy all day long and I that's all I can ask in our last home matches of the season."

St. Lawrence had the lead in two of the three sets against Skidmore, but the Thoroughbreds used a solid middle and crucial Saint errors to earn the victory. After dropping the first two sets, the Saints had two four-point leads in the third. However, it was erased by a 13-1 run by Skidmore, giving them a 17-9 cushion. The visitors were forced to call a timeout after St. Lawrence rattled off four straight points to make it a game at 22-20, but Elise Finnerty closed out the match with a kill at the net for the 3-0 sweep.

Brown and first-year student Marisa Turner led St. Lawrence with seven kills each against Skidmore, while Street had 14 assists. Prue finished with a match-high 19 digs. Skidmore was led by Aria Goodman's nine kills, Mallory Mendelsohn's 27 assists and Sam Friedman's 16 digs.

The "Power of Pink" has raised nearly $20,000 over the past three years for the Gouverneur Business Women, a North Country organization dedicated to helping members of the community battling breast cancer. The Saints wore pink apparel in the match, while members of the campus community wore specially-designed t-shirts. The event continues tomorrow at women's soccer and football.

The Saints' volleyball team will be in action again tomorrow, Saturday, October 20 in Potsdam, NY when they take on RIT at 1:30pm.