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Dignan earns All-Tournament honors for Saints volleyball at Hartwick

Posted 10/18/14

The St. Lawrence University volleyball team earned a split for the second straight day at the Hartwick Invitational, as the Saints defeated Ithaca 3-2 before falling to Stevens 3-0 in the weekend …

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Dignan earns All-Tournament honors for Saints volleyball at Hartwick

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The St. Lawrence University volleyball team earned a split for the second straight day at the Hartwick Invitational, as the Saints defeated Ithaca 3-2 before falling to Stevens 3-0 in the weekend finale in Oneonta, NY. Junior Mariah Dignan earned a spot on the All-Tournament team for her defensive efforts, including a career-high 33 dig performance against Ithaca.

St. Lawrence moves to 18-10 heading into the final weekend of Liberty League play next weekend in Schenectady, NY and Saratoga Springs, NY. The Saints topped Ithaca in dramatic fashion, winning 25-11, 19-25, 25-18, 20-25, 15-10 before Stevens moved to 23-4 with a 25-18, 25-16, 25-20 sweep.

"Our win against Ithaca was probably one of the higher-quality wins we've had during my tenure at St. Lawrence," said St. Lawrence head coach Shelly Roiger. "I thought we did a great job of battling, controlling the tempo of the match and playing with that killer instinct that we've lacked at times this season."

Offensively, St. Lawrence had four players with double-figures in kills in the win over the Bombers. Lexi Brown led the way with 15, while Rebecca Briggs had 14 and hit .500 with just one error. Cristina Deschaine and Masha Kolesnikova chipped in 12 and 10 kills each, respectively. Senior captain Jenna Street had 35 assists for the Scarlet and Brown, while Dignan's 33 digs was seven more than her previous career-high set earlier this year against SUNY Potsdam.

Brown and Dignan continued their strong play against Stevens, but could not propel the Saints to the upset. Brown had a match-high 14 kills, while Dignan chipped in 14 digs. However, 23 attack errors cost St. Lawrence as the Ducks swept their way to victory.

"Stevens was one of the toughest opponents we'll face all season and it opened our eyes to what it takes if you want to be an NCAA Tournament-caliber team. Their service game forced us out of system throughout the match but we were in every set until the 15-point mark," added Coach Roiger. "We definitely have things to work on but the desire to get better continues to be strong on this team and I love that about our group."

Stevens' win landed the Ducks the Hartwick Invitational title, with Mary Tobin earning Most Valuable Player honors while teammate Brianna Evans also earned All-Tournament team honors. Joining Evans and Dignan on the all-tourney squad were Hartwick's Hannah Armstrong, Brockport's Rachel Fiser, Ithaca's Joelle Goldstein and Oswego's Stephanie Bailey.

Before St. Lawrence gets back to conference play on Friday, the team will host its final match of the season in the Burkman Gymnasium on Tuesday night at 7:00pm against Plattsburgh State.