McKayla Pollard led the way with 13 kills on a .414 hitting percentage, as the St. Lawrence University volleyball team wrapped up their home schedule Tuesday night with a 3-1 (25-22, 25-27, 25-12, 25-9) win over SUNY Poly at Burkman Gymnasium.
The Saints improved to 13-10 overall in the non-conference match.
"SUNY Poly played really scrappy defense but once we fixed our own serving mistakes, we were able to go on runs," said Saints head coach Shelly Roiger.
The opening set was all about momentum swings. St. Lawrence opened with seven straight points behind the serve of Annika Flittie for an 8-1 lead, but SUNY Poly answered with a 7-0 run of its own to tie it at 8-8. The Wildcats strung together more points, pushing ahead 14-9 on a 6-0 stretch, then the Saints countered with a 7-0 run, led by Bridget Gammons at the service line, to take a 16-14 lead.
The set was tied nine times, and it stood 21-21 before Cara Vitarisi served an ace and Araiza Acum-Santos added a kill to make it 24-21. SUNY Poly cut the margin to two, and a Wildcat service error ended the set at 25-22.
SUNY Poly controlled most of the second set, leading by as much as 19-11. St. Lawrence then rallied with a 6-0 run, with Cassady Smith serving up three streight service aces and Pollard recording four kills in the stretch, to cut the deficit to 19-17. The Saints tied the set at 20 and took a 24-23 lead on an Acum-Santos kill, but the Wildcats evened it at 24-24 and again at 25-25 before winning it 27-25.
The Saints took control from the start of the third and never trailed, opening with a 3-0 run on Vitarisi's serve. Acum-Santos then served four straight points to stretch the lead from 10-4 to 14-4, and Naiyah Reece followed with four consecutive points at the line, including two aces, to make it 20-9. They ended the set shortly thereafter.
St. Lawrence finished the match in dominant fashion. Smith served nine straight points, including three aces, to build an 11-1 lead before the Wildcats got on the board again. SUNY Poly hit minus .167 in the set with 10 attack errors and only four kills. Acum-Santos served the final four points, two of them aces, as the Saints closed out a 25-9 win.
Underclass players led most stat categories for the Scarlet and Brown. After Pollard, Acum-Santos had the second-most kills on the Saints with 10. Smith's four aces were a team-high, and she also led the team with 17 digs. Rowan Mottau's 17 assists paced the Saints. St. Lawrence outhit the Wildcats .178 to .029 while holding a 13-6 edge in service aces over the course of the match.
The Saints now engage in a critical conference weekend, and their results will determine their playoff destiny. They currently sit tied with Skidmore for sixth in the Liberty League, and travel to Saratoga Springs, N.Y. to take on the Thoroughbreds this Friday, October 30. The winner will be in the driver's seat for tournament ambitions ahead of the Saints' final game of conference action against Union on Saturday, October 31. They also play Springfield as part of the Union Triad on Saturday.Â
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