The St. Lawrence volleyball team fell to Clarkson in straight sets on Friday night in Potsdam, N.Y.

Clarkson took the opening set 25-16 behind five kills by Kristin Werdine and nine assists by Isabelle Crow.

The second set was looking like it would be another runaway for Clarkson, but the Saints won three straight points to bring the score to 23-18. This run was followed by a pair of St. Lawrence errors to close the set in Clarkson's favor 25-18.

The best chance for the Saints came in the third set. Natalie Piper and Dylan O'Day each recorded a kill off of a Dorian Funk set, and Madison Amico served an ace for the Scarlet and Brown to jump out to a 19-16 lead. Clarkson scored nine of the next 11 points to complete the sweep, with the final scored of the set 25-21.

"We continue to have slow starts to our matches and not surprisingly that continues to haunt us," head coach Shelly Roiger had to say. "Our performance improved with each set, especially in terms of our defense, but we can't keep spotting the opponent a set or two and then decide to compete. I'm proud of our effort but it's difficult to notch a win when your block is completely absent. We had far too many mental mistakes to earn a win against a quality opponent."

Piper finished with a dozen kills and digs, and libero Reagan Collier-Hogan added 23 digs.

Werdine led the Golden Knights' offense with 19 kills. Crow had 37 assists, and Gillian Kurtic had four service aces. Emma Baxter had 26 digs.

Records: St. Lawrence (6-8, 0-3), Clarkson (9-7, 1-2)
Up Next: Saint Michael's College on Tuesday October 5 at 6 p.m. in Canton, N.Y.