The St. Lawrence volleyball team started their Liberty League campaign with a 3-1 win over Union on Friday night in Schenectady, N.Y. The Saints have won three of their last four matches.

In the first set Union had control early, but the Saints scored five straight, including kills from Berit Brecke and Lainey Roman, to take the lead 10-9. The Scarlet and Brown were able to break the score open scoring six out of seven to jump out to a 19-13 advantage. Jada Masiclat had the 25^th point off an assist from Lily Snide to take the set 25-21.

In the second set the Saints scored 12 straight to earn an early 13-1. The Dutchwomen put together a mid-set six-point run to make it 18-13, but St. Lawrence first-year Adeline Riesenberger had a block-kill to win the second set 25-16.

Union won the third set 25-16 and were down 7-3 in the fourth. A four-point run brought the Saints back into the set, but they were down 15-12 midway through. The Saints scored eight straight, five of which were Julia Giroux kills, to lead 20-15. Union scored five straight to even the set and looked to extend the match, but another Giroux kill stopped the run. Up 23-21, Roman had a kill off a Snide assist to set up match point, and Katrina Henrich served an ace to give the Saints the set 25-21 and the match.

Giroux had a match high 19 kills, 17 digs, and five aces. Snide had 33 assists. Henrich and Maggie Layman came up with 15 and 13 digs, respectively, to help anchor the Saints defense. Risenberger finished with three blocks.

The Saints finished with a dozen aces to Union's four.

Head coach Shelly Roiger
"It feels great to get the Liberty League season started with a win. After going up 2-0, we lost our hunger a bit and Union increased their aggressiveness. We had a poor start to set four but I am very proud of the mental toughness and fearlessness that our team showed at the end of the match. We established control late in the set, but Union, made a run and all the momentum was theirs. Fortunately, we made some intelligent plays to pull out the win. Rest and recovery as we look to earn another road win tomorrow."

Records: St. Lawrence (4-8, 1-0), Union (6-5, 0-1)
Up next: at Bard on September 24^th at 2 p.m.