Araiza Acum-Santos had a season-high .476 hitting percentage en route to 13 kills in a 3-0 (25-20, 25-16, 25-16) straight-set victory in St. Lawrence's match with Plattsburgh State.
St. Lawrence improved to 5-6 overall as they continue to march toward Liberty League play. Plattsburgh State fell to 5-7.
"Tonight was a good showing by our team," said Saints head coach
Shelly Roiger. "It was one of our best matches of the year from an unforced errors standpoint and I thought our energy and focus was very strong. We'll continue to work on reducing our service errors but I like our level of aggressiveness which did pay off. Plattsburgh found themselves out of system often and it transitioned into us dictating the match instead of being reactionary to the opponent."Â
The Saints led from start to finish in the opening set. A
Cara Vitarisi service run helped St. Lawrence to a 7-1 advantage, and the Cardinals never got closer than a tie.
Vanessa Latam closed the set with back-to-back aces.
Plattsburgh State took its only leads of the second set early, going ahead 5-4 and 6-5. The Saints answered by pulling away with
Araiza Acum-Santos and
Bridget Gammons leading the attack, eventually building a nine-point cushion before winning 25-16.
St. Lawrence carried that momentum into the third set. Plattsburgh State led only at 1-0 and 2-1 before the Saints took control and stretched their lead to as many as 12 points. The Saints hit .344 in the set with 14 kills and closed out the sweep.
Along with Acum-Santos Gammons added eight kills and three aces, and
McKayla Pollard finished with five kills. Latam recorded 24 assists and two aces.
Audrey Bibbins had four kills.
Cassady Smith led the defense with eight digs.
The Saints return to action with two more North Country match-ups next week, beginning with SUNY Canton on Tuesday September 29, followed by a conference opener against Clarkson on Friday, October 2.
'
