Araiza Acum-Santos had six kills and Kori Meissner had 11 digs, but the St. Lawrence University volleyball team dropped their contest against William Smith 3-0 Friday night in Canton, N.Y.

"William Smith is a very good team with excellent athleticism," Saints head coach Shelly Roiger said. "They definitely dictated the pace of the match from the very first point and we spent the entire match responding to their play. That being said, I thought we played some of our best volleyball at times while being comfortable in moments of chaos and we didn't panic."
 
"We will need to bring our A-game vs RIT tomorrow in hopes of earning a conference win."

Sofia Velasquez added five kills and Kate Gardner had three blocks to lead the Saints. Vanessa Latam was second on the team with ten digs and also had 16 assists.



William Smith was on-point all night, never allowing St. Lawrence to take a lead in either of the first two sets. The Scarlet and Brown held the Herons close in the first set, although with the Herons leading 14-9, they went on a 4-0 run to take control. The Saints were able to take three of the next four points, behind a kill from Bridget Gammons and Acum-Santos, but the Herons were able to score five of the next six and win the set 25-13.

The Herons dominated the Saints in the second set, holding a 5-0 lead early, then expanded that lead even more with a 16-3 advantage. The Saints got back-to-back points only once in the set off of a couple attacking errors and William Smith won 25-10.

The final set was similar to the first towards the beginning with the Herons holding a four to six point lead through most of the beginning of the set. A kill by Velasquez made the game 18-13 in favor of William Smith, however the Herons scored seven of the next eight to win the set 25-14 sweep the Saints in both teams' Liberty League opener.

The Saints will host another triad on Saturday, September 28 with conference foe RIT and non-conference opponent Plattsburgh State coming to town. They will match up against RIT at 2 p.m. and Plattsburgh State at 6 p.m.