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Saints volleyball fall to 16th-ranked Ithaca in Liberty League opener

Posted 9/22/18

The St. Lawrence University volleyball team rallied to claim the second set and Natalie Piper posted a team-best 18 kills, but the 16th-ranked Ithaca Bombers defeated the Saints 3-1 by scores of …

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Saints volleyball fall to 16th-ranked Ithaca in Liberty League opener

Posted

The St. Lawrence University volleyball team rallied to claim the second set and Natalie Piper posted a team-best 18 kills, but the 16th-ranked Ithaca Bombers defeated the Saints 3-1 by scores of 25-19, 17-25, 25-15 and 25-20 in Liberty League play on Friday night at Burkman Gymnasium.

Piper and Amanda Teppo posted a team-best three blocks each, Maddy Bishop tallied 21 assists and five service aces, and Reagan Collier-Hogan recorded 12 digs for the Saints. Teppo also posted nine kills, while Grace Kelly added two aces and nine digs.

The Saints got off to a strong start in the first set of the night with an early 6-3 lead off a kill from Julia Wagner. The Bombers tied the set at 9-9, but St. Lawrence rallied for a 14-11 lead. Ithaca posted a six-point run to regain the lead and finished with a 25-19 win after five consecutive points.

In the second set, the Saints surged to a 13-8 lead with a 7-2 run, and the Bombers never got within one for the rest of the game. Piper claimed the last point for the Scarlet and Brown with a kill.

Ithaca sprinted out to an 8-3 lead in the third set and never looked back despite multiple comeback attempts from the Saints. The Bombers posted a 10-2 run to build a 24-13 lead and took the set, 25-15, off a service error.

The first half of the fourth set was back and forth, but Ithaca went on a 6-1 run to take a 19-13 lead to take control of the match for good.

"I thought we attempted to execute the game plan fairly well but just made a few too many mistakes," said head coach Shelly Roiger. "After the match we talked about our teams' belief in themselves and their expectation for the Liberty League season. Ithaca is a very good team and I felt like we matched up with them well in several areas. However, I think we got content injust taking a set instead of going in with the mindset of winning the match. We won a battle but we need the desire to win the war."

Ithaca was led by Reagan Stone with 24 kills and three service aces, while Caitlyn Floyd picked up 45 assists and Jordyn Lyn Hayashi recorded 14 digs.

With the loss, the Scarlet and Brown fell to 8-4 on the season and 0-1 in league play, while the Bombers improved to 6-5 and 1-0.

St. Lawrence continues their first Liberty League weekend with a trip to RIT to face the Tigers tomorrow afternoon at 4 p.m.