The St. Lawrence volleyball team lossed their opening two matches to Cortland and Hartwick at the Red Dragon Classic on Friday afternoon in Cortland, N.Y.

Julia Giroux ended the day with 28 kills, including 20 in the Hartwick match, and Lily Snide had 47 assists in the two matches.

Match 1: St. Lawrence vs. SUNY Cortland, 0-3 (11-25, 15-25, 7-25)

The Saints fell to the hosts in their first match of the season in straight sets.

The Red Dragons had ten out of a possible 11 side outs in the first set, and took it 25-11. The Saints continued to struggle with holding the serve in the second set, and fell 25-15. In the final set Cortland had a nine-point run, and an eight-point run, and finished the match with a 25-7 win.

Giroux led the Saints with eight kills, and Lainey Roman had seven. Snide had 19 assists. Libero Katrina Henrich had six digs, as did Roman, and Adeline Riesenberger had five.

Match 2: St. Lawrence vs. Hartwick, 1-3 (24-25, 13-25, 25-18, 11-25)

St. Lawrence had more offense in their second match of the tournament, but ultimately fell to Hartwick in four sets.

After leading the first set 24-23, the Hawks landed the final three points to take set. Down two sets to none, Hartwick jumped out to a score the opening six points of the third set. The Saints responded with six straight of their own, including a pair of service aces from Julia Giroux. After a few points were exchanged, the Saints went on another six-point run, which included a trio of Giroux kills, to lead 18-11. The scarlet and brown were able to close-out the set 25-18, but dropped the fourth set 25-11 for Hartwick to secure the match.

Giroux had a match high 20 kills and lead the Saints with three aces. Roman and Boudreau each added five kills. Henrich led the defense with 13 digs, and Giroux had 10. Snide again did the lion's share of the setting, and finished with 28 assists.

Head coach Shelly Roiger
"Our objective today was to be better when we left the gym than when we entered it. We had several people out of position and I thought the team did a great job of keeping their composure and just grinding through adversity. We get a new start tomorrow and we play to have the same objective: be better when we leave than when we arrived."

The Saints fall to 0-2 on the season, while Hartwick stands at 1-1 and SUNY Cortland is 1-0.

St. Lawrence will return to Cortland to take on Fredonia and Western New England on day two of the tournament. Match times are set for 12 p.m. and 2:30 p.m., respectively.