The St. Lawrence University volleyball team won both matches on Saturday evening in Burkman Gymnasium in Canton, NY, as they took down SUNY Oneonta and Plattsburgh State.

"Today was another solid day for our team," said head coach Shelly Roiger. "It was our first time having every single one of our players able to play for health-related reasons, and it was like we had hit the reset button for the beginning of the season. The team had great energy throughout the day and I think they were just really happy to finally all be back together, ready to compete and recognizing the privilege of representing St. Lawrence University on the court. We weren't as sharp in some areas as we were yesterday but we had a lot of different people step in and make contributions when called upon and each person did a great job of being mentally and physically ready to perform."   

Match 1: St. Lawrence vs. SUNY Oneonta, 3-1 (25-14, 23-25, 25-16, 25-16)

Junior Allie Posnick had a season high 41 assists along with 3 aces as the Saints topped the Red Dragons in four sets.

Up 9-8 in the first game, the Saints went on a 7-2 run to take control of the set and cruise to a 25-14 win. Seniors Natalie Piper and Annika Kreppein had five and four kills, respectively, to lead St. Lawrence.

St. Lawrence was in a position to take set two as well, leading 22-20, when a kills from the Red Dragons and a trio of attack errors by the Saints found them down down 24-22. Junior Vivian Zymeck had a kill to put the Saints back within one, but an attack error on the next play saw Oneonta take game two.

Game three started the same as game two, with the Saints and Red Dragons trading points until the score was 7-7. The Saints scored ten of the next 14 points to take a sizable lead that they held onto to go up 2-1 in the match.

The Saints kept that intensity up in game four, jumping out to an early 4-0 lead. The game never got closer than three and the Saints won the game 25-16, and the match 3-1.

Piper lead all players with 18 kills, Kreppein added 12, Vivian Zymeck had nine, and Courtney Benson had seven.

The Red Dragons had 8 blocks to the Saints 5, but the Saints led in kills (54-28), aces (13-10), assists (47-26), and digs (75-55).

Match 2: St. Lawrence vs. Plattsburgh State, 3-0 (25-17, 25-15, 25-21)

Kreppein dominated on offense and defense in the second match of the night, leading the Saints with 11 kills and 13 digs as St. Lawrence defeated the Cardinals in straight sets.

The Saints took the first two sets, and were up 15-7 in the third, but the Cardinals were not going to go down without a fight. Plattsburgh scored the next six points to bring it to 15-13. The teams traded mini runs for the next few serves. With St. Lawrence up 21-18, Olga Muka recorded a kill and two aces on the next three points to bring the Cardinals down by just one. The Saints were able to win the next three long rallies, and eventually secure the third set, and the match 3-0.


Zymeck led all players with five blocks in the match, and Benson added four. Allie Posnick had 27 assists, and Sophomore Dorian Funk contributed five.

The Cardinals were led by Payton Zophy's 16 digs and Ann Beauchamp's four kills.

The Saints posted a 35-16 advantage in kills and topped Oswego in aces (7-6), blocks (7-6), and digs (62-49).

St. Lawrence improved to 4-4 on the season, while Oneonta fell to 1-5 and Plattsburgh fell to 4-3.

The Saints next head to Oswego to play St. John Fisher, Utica, and Elmira for the Oswego Invitation September 17 and 18.