Senior Mariah Dignan passed the 1,000-career dig milestone in the second match of the day as the St. Lawrence University Volleyball team split a pair of matches Friday night in the first day of Liberty League play at Skidmore College. The Saints defeated Vassar 3-1 and dropped a close 3-2 decision to Union later in the evening.

St. Lawrence (3-8 Overall, 1-1 Liberty League) won the first set of the Vassar match by a 25-23 margin. The Brewers battled back with a 25-14 win in the second set before St. Lawrence rebounded to win the third and fourth sets by scores of 25-21 and 25-22 for the match victory.

"Our win against Vassar was a quality win," said Head Coach Shelly Roiger. "We did a much better job of just finishing and didn't let sets slip away. It was reassuring to see and experience that progress. Our union was a match that was a hard fought battle. I'm proud of how we didn't give up and came back after being down 0-2. There was never more than a two point difference in the fifth set and we were right there."

Against Union, the Saints fell behind 2-0 losing the first two sets by scores of 25-19 and 25-17. St. Lawrence came back to post wins in the third and fourth sets with scores of 25-21, 25-22 to even the match. Union finished off the match with a very close 15-13 decision in the tie breaker set.

Dignan had 20 digs in the Vassar match and then added 17 against Union to eclipse the 1000-career dig milestone. With 1,005 digs in her career, she currently sits 11th on the all-time list and is just four away from tying Janina Sullivan who had 1,009 from 2004-06.

Lexi Brown had 12 kills and Masha Kolesnikova added 10 kills in the Vassar match. Katie Kull had 32 assists and a pair of aces while Kolesnikova added seven digs and three blocks. Cristina Deschaine led the Saints at the net with four blocks.

Against Union, Brown had 16 kills and five blocks, Marisa Turner and Maddy Ruehl had three aces each and Ruehl added five blocks. Kull handed out 43 assists and had 11 digs while Dignan and Kolesnikova each totaled 17 digs for the Saints.

"I hope our team realizes that we can play with anyone in the region," said Roiger. "The loss stings but I hope our team will wake up in the morning and play both matches with a sense of purpose and belief in each other and themselves."

The Saints continue Liberty League play Saturday at Union with matches against Bard at Noon and Skidmore at 4 pm.