Box Score Araiza Acum-Santos had 14 kills and Bridget Gammons added eight of her own as the St. Lawrence University volleyball team fell to the No. 20 nationally-ranked Ithaca Bombers in three sets in their final home game of the 2024 season.

Gammons had eight kills on 13 attempts with no errors en route to a .613 hitting percentage. Vanessa Latam had ten digs to lead the Scarlet and Brown, Kori Meissner added eight and Maggie Layman had seven to go along with three service aces.

"I saw a completely different version of our team today for the better but we were inconsistent," said Saints head coach Shelly Roiger. "We competed in set one and then were absent in set two. Between sets two and three we talked about expectations and standards and how would they respond to a character check in regard to their competitiveness. We started out strong, had the lead half way through the set, and then knocked ourselves down multiple times through service errors. We were in a position to push the match to four sets to the No. 20 team in the country and couldn't capitalize on that opportunity. I continue to believe that this team is capable of better play but it's our unforced errors that tabulate much too quickly."



The two teams battled in the opening part of the first set, although with the score knotted up at six, Ithaca scored five of the next six to earn a four-point lead 11-7. St. Lawrence had some offensive sequences after this, and a kill by Gammons made the game 16-13 in favor of the Bombers but Ithaca then went on a 5-0 run and the Saints only scored three more times the rest of the set, falling 25-16.

Despite St. Lawrence earning the first point in set two, the Bombers went on an 11-0 run to give themselves a double-digit lead early. The Saints scored the next three points after this with a kill from Rose Meihaus up front, but the Bombers followed that up with another long run, never allowing the Saints to gain an edge, winning the set 25-8.

In the third set, the Scarlet and Brown began with a 4-0 advantage with Layman having three service aces and Acum-Santos a kill in that span. The Saints held a slim lead for the entire first half of the set, leading by as much as four at one point 14-10.

However, the Bombers proceeded to score nine of the next 11 to take their first lead of the set. The two teams then played each other nearly evenly until with the score 23-19, the Saints scored three straight with two kills from Gammons and one from Sofia Velasquez to trim the deficit to 23-22. Although, the Bombers scored two of the next three to take the hard-earned three set victory.

The Saints have two more Liberty League games remaining on the schedule, both of which will be played next weekend on the road. St. Lawrence will head south to take on the Vassar Brewers Friday, October 25, and then the Union Garnet Chargers Saturday, October 26.