The St. Lawrence University volleyball team dropped both their games at the North Country Classic Friday night at Burkman Gymnasium, falling 3-1 (18-25, 19-25, 25-22, 14-25) to Hartwick and 3-0 (18-25, 17-25, 13-25) to Oswego State.
The Saints fall to 1-4 on the season as they continue their non-conference schedule early in the 2024 season.
"Tonight was a very disappointing night in terms of lack of mental focus," said head coach
Shelly Roiger. "We had very poor execution of our game plan which then led to poor efficiency from the offensive end. Hartwick and Oswego simply outplayed us and they definitely deserved the wins."
Araiza Acum-Santos led the way for the Saints with 18 kills and 15 digs on the day, recording a total of 19 points, while
Rose Meihaus was second on the team with 10 kills. Sophomores
Kori Meissner and
Vanessa Latam both recorded 15 digs on the night.Latam had 33 assists playing in her first game of the season after missing the opening three with an injury.
Game 1: St. Lawrence 1, Hartwick 3 (18-25, 19-25, 25-22, 14-25)
The Hawks jumped out to a 17-7 lead in the first set of the match, giving them a comfortable advantage.
The Saints wouldn't let this lead swell anymore, but they were unable to get any closer than six, leading to a seven-point defeat in the first set. Hartwick continued to play well in the early portion of their sets, which gave them another advantage in the second set, this time with their lead stretching to 19-8.
The Saints did score the next six points thanks to some errors by the Hawks, but once again, they weren't able to trim the lead much more and Hartwick went up 2-0 in the game.
With the third set, the two teams went back and forth for the early part of the stanza. Once it was 9-9, the Saints went on a 4-0 run behind kills from Acum-Santos and Meihaus as well as two errors from the Hawks.
Now with their largest lead of the day, the Saints held their ground. The teams traded points at the end of the set, but the Scarlet and Brown continued to hold their lead, giving them a three-point victory in the third set.
In the fourth set, the teams resumed trading points, then with the score at 5-5, Hartwick broke through with a 6-0 run to make the score 11-5 early. Another 4-0 Hartwick run made it 17-9, and they would score 12 of the set's last 17 points to stretch their lead to 11 at the final whistle.
Game 2: St. Lawrence 0, Oswego State 3 (18-25, 17-25, 13-25)
In the first set, the Lakers started off up 10-3 and never looked back, holding a comfortable lead for the majority of the set.
The Saints rattled off five straight points late, getting within four making the game 22-18 highlighted by a couple of strong kills by Acum-Santos but after the Oswego timeout, St. Lawrence dropped the final three points to lose the set.
The Scarlet and Brown opened the second set by scoring three of the first four, but the Lakers quickly got the lead after that and grew it to double digits, eventually winning the set by eight.
The final set was close again at first but after a 6-6 start, Oswego went on a 7-0 run to put the match out of reach for the Saints, sweeping St. Lawrence on their home court.
Up next:
The Scarlet and Brown continue tournament season with a trip down to Clinton, N.Y. for the Hamilton Tournament beginning Friday, Sept. 13. St. Lawrence will play Hamilton, SUNY Morrisville and Keuka.
