The St. Lawrence University volleyball team picked up a set win in the first won the opening set but fell to Skidmore, 3-1 (25-17, 17-25, 20-25, 16-25), Friday night at Williamson Sports Center.
With the defeat, St. Lawrence's Liberty League record stands at 2-5 entering the last conference game of the regular season on Saturday, and 13-11 overall. The loss drops the Saints into seventh, below sixth-place Skidmore in the conference standings and eliminates them from Liberty League tournament contention.
St. Lawrence began the match with its best set of the night.
St. Lawrence opened with its best set of the night and won 25-17.
Vanessa Latam ran the offense, setting kills for
McKayla Pollard and
Araiza Acum-Santos early and gave the Saints an early 3-1 lead. They kept an advantage and had five of the last seven points in the opening set to seal a 1-0 advantage.
Skidmore tied the match in the second. The set turned on two runs. Heitman kills and a McIntyre ace gave the Thoroughbreds three straight points, and later three consecutive St. Lawrence attack errors came with Kilroy serving. Gammons answered with back-to-back kills, but Katy O'Connell's kill ended it for Skidmore.
The Saints outhit the Thoroughbreds in the third set .313 to..303, but still lost 25-20. Skidmore used an early 11-2 run to pull ahead over the Saints and would not relinquish the lead, giving them a 2-1 set lead. Skidmore then closed out the match, winning by nine in the fourth.
Araiza Acum-Santos led St. Lawrence with 13 kills.
Bridget Gammons and
McKayla Pollard each added 10 kills, and Gammons also had two aces and two blocks.
Vanessa Latam distributed 32 assists and added nine digs, and
Cassady Smith led the Saints defensively with 14 digs. Catriona Hoelperl handed out a game-high 43 assists for the Thoroughbreds.
The Saints now head to the Capital District for the Union Triad against the Garnet Chargers and Springfield College. Those matches are set for Saturday, October 31.
