The Bison Women’s Volleyball team took two noteworthy Patriot League wins this weekend over Lehigh and Lafayette to bring their record to 6-7 in regular play and 2-2 Patriot League play.
Despite falling behind two sets to one against Lehigh, the Orange and Blue pulled through to take the victory over their instate-rivals in five sets (21-25, 25-16, 21-25, 27-25, 15-13). As reflected by the scoring, it was a tight match with lots of back and forth action where one team would get in a good stride before the other ultimately took back possession and momentum.
As for the fifth set, the Mountain Hawks took the first point; however, it wasn’t long until Bucknell was leading 7-3. This lead didn’t last though as Lehigh was able to go on a run, tying the score at 8-8. The Bison eventually had a lead of 14-12, and Sidney Shaffer ’27 delicately placed the ball to steal the final, winning point, tallying her 16th kill of the night. Catherine Jamison ’24, also obtained several kills herself, leading the team with a total of 17.
The following night, the Bison took on the Lafayette Leopards and secured yet another win, this time in four sets (25-17, 25-23, 21-25, 25-13). The Orange and Blue won the first two sets but gave the Leopards a chance at victory by falling in the third set.
The Bison’s early wins were not without difficulty. In the second set, the Bison were trailing 19-13 at one point, but they were able to close the gap with several impressive kills and errors from Lafayette. After giving up a few points, the Orange and Blue went on a 6-1 run to steal the set.
As for the third set, the Bison were behind 20-19, and the Leopards were able to seal the set with a 5-2 point streak.
They were able to rally in the fourth though, handily defeating Lafayette with a 25-13 score to finish the game. Bri Frazilus ’26 helped lead her team to victory with 12 kills, followed by Shaffer and Jamison each with 11 kills.
This marked the first time in 18 years that the Bison have won two road conference games in the same weekend. They will continue Patriot League play next weekend.
“Going into the weekend we were very excited to play Lehigh and Lafayette because they are usually tight matches for us. Despite losing a few sets, we stayed confident and aggressive,” Jamison said. “All the teams in the league are very evenly matched so we can always anticipate a battle. We are looking forward to traveling to Navy and Loyola next weekend and continuing our winning streak in the Patriot League.”
