The St. Lawrence volleyball team defeated Fredonia in five sets, and fell to Western New England in straight sets on Saturday in Cortland, N.Y.

St. Lawrence 3, Fredonia 2 (25-18, 22-25, 25-23, 21-25, 15-13)

The Saints used an early five-point run, and later a six-point run to take a 15-5 lead in the first set. Later the Blue Devils scored eight of nine, but the early lead was too much for them to come back from, and the Saints took the first set 25-18, which would be the largest margin out of any of the sets.

Fredonia went on a 7-2 run in the middle of the second set, which was enough separation to hold on to the 25-22 win. Again in the third set neither team was able to get much separation, until a five-point run, spurred by a pair of kills from both Berit Brecke and Vivian Zymeck put the Saints up 21-17, and the scarlet and brown secured the set 25-23.

St. Lawrence looked to close out the match in four sets, but an 11-point run by the Blue Devils would be enough to force a fifth set to 15. In the shorted final set, the teams were even four times, as late as 12-12, but a kill by Jada Masiclat off of a Sofia Velasquez assist gave the Saints their first win of the season.

Zymeck finished with 24 kills, which is tied for the sixth best single match performance in program history. She also had 10 digs, four aces, and a pair of blocks. Brecke added a dozen kills and a team high 19 digs. Mattie Porter had setting duties and finished with 35 assists.

"Our Fredonia win was a very gritty win," said head coach Shelly Roiger. "With several players again out of position, the team did a great job of focusing on controllable and being self-disciplined in their role. I'm proud of them for pulling out the win."

St. Lawrence 0, Western New England 3 (17-25, 13-25, 19-25)

Following their five set thriller, the Saints lost their final match of the tournament in straight sets to Western New England. St. Lawrence had five more service errors and six more setting errors, while the Golden Bears had 13 more kills.

Zymeck and Velasquez each had five kills and two aces. Masiclat also had a pair of aces. Maggie Layman led the defense with seven digs, and Porter finished with 14 assists.

"We simply ran out of gas in the second match," Roiger said. "WNE did a great job of exploiting our weaknesses and we struggled to make corrections to counter their strategy."

The Saints leave the tournament 1-3, and will have their home opener on September 9^th at 4:00 p.m. against Stevens as part of the North Country Classic.