The Bison women’s volleyball team traveled to Dover, Del. to compete in the Delaware State Invitational this past weekend. Their season opening match ended in a 3-2 victory over St. Francis Brooklyn.

Junior outside hitter Lisa Zoch ’23 posted a career-high 21 kills with a .415 hitting percentage to help the Bison collect wins in the second, third and fifth sets to defeat the Terriers. Catherine Jamison ’24 and Libby Nieporte ’24 also registered career highs in kills with 16 and 12, respectively. The Bison held a hitting percentage of .274 compared to the Terriers .228. The Terriers made a run late to force a fifth set, but the Bison held strong and won the final five of six points in the final frame to earn the victory. 

The next match on Saturday against Delaware State gave the Bison their first loss of the season.  After surrendering the first set, Bucknell jumped out to a 24-19 lead in the second. The Hornets battled back, extending the match. The tables turned in the third match, as the Bison found themselves in a deficit. A kill by Jen Sivak ’25 and a service ace by Nieporte helped the Bison to a 6-0 run in order to tie the set. Zoch led the Bison with 13 kills and 12 digs for her second double-double of the season. Jennie Burke ’22 posted 7 kills in the loss.

Their final match was against St. Peters, where the Bison finished the weekend off with a 3-0 sweep. The Blue and Orange cruised through a 25-15 in the first match. The Peacocks kept it close in the second after tying the score 14-14, but the Bison found the strength to extend their lead to 25-14 for the win. Jamison led all Bison with 12 kills and was one of three teammates to record a hitting percentage above .500. Over the course of the match, the Bison posted a .270 hitting percentage, while the Peacocks held an inferior .062.

Senior Vittoria Sottani talked about the team’s hard work at the invitational. “We showed tremendous effort and competition last weekend, and we can’t wait to bring that momentum with us at UPenn.” 

Zoch and Hardy were named to the All-Tournament Team. The Bison travel to Philadelphia, Pa. to the Penn Invitational where they will battle University of Pennsylvania, Canisius and Coppin State.