The St. Lawrence University volleyball team wrapped up their North Country Classic weekend with a contest against Middlebury, dropping the Sunday morning neutral site match 3-0 at Clarkson.
Middlebury took the match's three sets by scores of 25-16, 25-14, and 25-12.
The Saints move to a 2-2 record following the defeat to their NESCAC opposition, while Middlebury swept their weekend in the North Country.
However, the match started very competitively. The two sides traded points early, with the Saints taking an 8-7 lead by rattling off three straight points from
Kalina Natcheva,
Araiza Acum-Santos and a Panthers setting error, and also led 9-8.
The Scarlet and Brown also tied it 10-10 on a
Cara Vitarisi ace, but Middlebury answered with a 6-0 burst behind Chloe Cunniffe's setting and kills from Molly MacDonald and Ella Beebe to seize control at 17-11. St. Lawrence got service aces from
Annika Flittie and stayed within striking distance behind
Bridget Gammons and
Vanessa Latam, but Middlebury closed it out from there.
Middlebury never trailed for long, building a 6-3 cushion behind Campbell Bartley and Mischa Pendleton before extending it to 15-8. Flittie and Acum-Santos added offense late, trimming the gap to 23-14 and Middlebury would take the set from there.
Middlebury jumped ahead immediately behind Cunniffe's set-and-serve combination, racing out to a 5-0 lead before St. Lawrence got on the board. Gammons served back-to-back aces to pull the Saints within 6-5, but Middlebury pulled away again, pushing the lead to 20-8 and closing out the sweep 25-12 on a Natalie Stanford kill off a Cunniffe assist.
Latam ran the St. Lawrence offense throughout the match, finishing with 18 assists to go with three kills, and in doing so moved into sole possession of fourth place on the program's all-time assists list.
Gammons paced the Saints' attack with seven kills on a .294 hitting percentage and added two aces for 9.5 points, while Acum-Santos led the team with eight kills. Flittie added three aces, and
Cassady Smith and Vitarisi anchored the back row with 13 and seven digs, respectively.
St. Lawrence returns with more road action next weekend as they head to SUNY Brockport to their invitational. They play Grove City on Friday evening before a twin bill with Hilbert and Brockport on Saturday.
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