Julia Giroux had 26 kills and six aces on the day, but the St. Lawrence University volleyball team lost in five sets to Vassar, and in straight sets to Kean on Saturday afternoon in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

St. Lawrence 2, Vassar 3 (25-21, 25-19, 23-25, 11-25, 9-15)
The Saints looked poised to take the opening set of the day by a large margin, scoring the opening six points, and later leading 20-9. The Brewers scored 11 of the next 14 points to cut the lead to just three, but kills from Giroux and Vivian Zymeck gave the Saints the 25-21 win.

The second set could not have been more different. Vassar jumped out to an 8-1 lead, but the Saints stormed back and took their first lead 13-12. The set continued with the teams exchanging points, and with Vassar leading 18-17, St. Lawrence scored eight of the final nine points to win 25-19. Lainey Roman had seven second-set kills.

The third set was tied a dozen times, with the latest being 22 each. Vassar took advantage of a pair of St. Lawrence attack errors, recorded an ace and a kill to take their first set 25-23. The Brewers used a 10-point run to catapult themselves to a 25-11 win to draw the match even at two sets apiece.

The 15-point final set was even at nine, but Vassar earned the win with four kills and two aces to win the final six points.

Roman finished with 14 kills and 14 digs. Giroux had a dozen kills and three service aces. Maggie Layman also had three aces and added 16 digs. Lily Snide had 26 assists.

St. Lawrence 0, Kean 3 (13-25, 20-25, 23-25)
In the second match of the day, Kean went on three runs of five or more points. The Saints could not string together more than three straight and fell 25-13.

The second set saw the Cougars again with a large early lead. They led 15-8, but the Saints were successful on the next three side-out opportunities and drew the set even at 18. Kean again created some separation by scoring the next five, and eventually took set two 25-20.

An attacking error from the Saints gave Kean set-point at 24-18, but St. Lawrence scored five straight to get within one and look to extend both the set and the match, but a Cougar kill completed the 25-23 set win and the 3-0 match win.

Giroux had 14 kills and three aces in the second match. Layman again led the defense with 15 digs, and Roman had nine along with five kills. Snide again had setting duties and had 19 assists.

Head coach Shelly Roiger
"The word 'disappointing' doesn't begin to describe the Vassar loss. We took care of business in the first two sets, and then completely left 'attack mode.' The conference win was there for the taking and we just didn't play with any urgency and our serving game was disgusting. It was a very frustrating loss. After a two-plus hour match, we had a 40 minute rest before playing Kean, one of the most athletic teams we've seen all season. We had a lot of long rallies, worked harder and smarter than we have all season, and kept getting better with every set. That kind of loss I can deal with so I'm hoping the team learned something today about what they are capable of and the importance of sustained focus and hunger."

Records: St. Lawrence (5-16, 1-5 LL), Vassar (4-14, 3-3 LL), Kean (12-8)
Up next: vs Bates on October 21^st at 5 p.m. in Burkman Gymnasium