Araiza Acum-Santos had 18 kills and
Kori Meissner had 21 digs across the span of two games as the St. Lawrence volleyball team fell to RIT in their first game but proceeded to sweep Plattsburgh State in the nightcap on Senior night.
Sofia Velasquez and
Kate Gardner were also in double digits with 12 and 10 kills respectively. Velasquez added nine digs while
Lily Snide was second on the team with seven digs in each game for a total of 14.
"I'm proud of our team's ability to bounce back from the loss earlier in the day," said
Shelly Roiger, the Saints' head coach. "Keeping the ball in play while attacking played a huge role in the final result and it was great to see several players make big contributions, including our seniors Kate and Rachel on Senior Day and Lane is always a positive influence on the sideline as a student assistant coach."
"That win snaps a nasty losing streak for us and I'm grateful that our team stayed together during that tough stretch," she continued. "Many teams would have folded or turned on each other but this team has such a great sense of togetherness and I'm hoping that tonight's win over Plattsburgh starts another streak for us, but this time, a winning one."
Game 1: St. Lawrence 0, RIT 3 (22-25, 18-25, 20-25)
In the first set, the Tigers grabbed an early lead, doubling up the Saints 8-4. However, the Scarlet and Brown were able to storm back and tie the game at 12, with their run culminating on an ace by Meissner and a kill by
Kate Gardner. After an RIT timeout, the Tigers scored five of the next six to take a five-point lead. The Saints weren't able to regain the lead and fell by a slim three points in the first set.
The next set was closely contested in the early part of the match, but with the Saints trailing 10-9, the Tigers went on a 5-1 run to stretch out their lead to 15-10. The Saints weren't able to take the lead the rest of the set. They went on a 3-0 run when the score was 19-13 off a kill and a service ace by Velasquez but the Tigers ultimately claimed the second set 25-18.
In the third set, the two teams exchanged the first five points, but St. Lawrence then went on a 5-0 run with Acum-Santos getting three kills in the stretch. The Saints led for the rest of the early part of the set, but the Tigers went on extended scoring runs to pull away.
Game 2: St. Lawrence 3, Plattsburgh State 0 (25-18, 25-19, 25-21)
Early portions of the first set saw the Saints and the Cardinals trading points. With the Saints trailing 11-8, they took control of the game and went on an extended 11-2 run to give themselves a commanding 19-13 lead. Acum-Santos had three kills in this span and Gammons had two service aces and a kill herself. The Cardinals didn't score back to back points the rest of the set, and a kill by Gammons sealed the 25-18 set victory.
The second set was very similar to the first with both teams going back and forth with the lead early, but the Saints, backed with two kills from Gammons, once again went on an 8-2 run with the score tied at 11 to take another big lead. Plattsburgh responded with a 3-0 run of their own but the Saints limited the damage after that, and took the set 25-19.
In the final set, the Saints trailed 7-6 but went on a 7-1 run to take an early 13-8 lead. However, the Cardinals were able to respond and quickly tied the game back up at 13 and then followed up that scoring run by getting five of the next seven points to take an 18-15 lead. However, the Scarlet and Brown completely dominated the rest of the way. St. Lawrence quickly erased that lead by scoring the next three points to tie the game at 18, then scored five of the next seven with Meissner getting back-to-back service aces. Velasquez had a kill to conclude the game as the Saints swept the Cardinals on senior night.
Up Next:
The Saints will head back on the road with three games next weekend. On October 4, they will play against Skidmore in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., then they will play two on Saturday, October 8 at the Bard Triad with a road matchup against the hosting Raptors and a neutral non-conference game against Rutgers-Newark.
