Bucknell Volleyball took down Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., in a narrow five-set match on Friday before falling to Colgate the following day in Hamilton, N.Y., in straight sets as the Raiders remain undefeated in conference play.

The Bison had come off a difficult non-conference schedule, which included reigning national champions Penn State and a North Carolina squad that made it to the national tournament last December. Despite this, the Orange and Blue went into Worcester on Friday having won four of their last five games and both of their conference matchups. 

The Crusaders started the match strong, narrowly taking the first set, 25-23. The Bison rallied back in the second set, which was a back-and-forth affair. The key moment came when a Tijana Kostic ’26 and Riley Tucker ’26 combined block put the Orange and Blue ahead late in the set at 25-24, which the Bison went on to win. The Crusaders took the third set 25-15, putting the Bison in a critical situation. The fourth set was a dominant performance by the Bison, going on multiple runs, to win the set 25-5, committing no attack errors in the process. The Orange and Blue used this momentum to win the fifth set in a similarly crushing fashion, 15-9, with a Tucker and Caleigh O’Connell ’26 block sealing the win.

The following day, the Bison took on reigning Patriot League champions Colgate. In the first set, the Raiders started out strong with a 7-1 run to open the match. The Orange and Blue were never able to successfully close the gap, getting within four points multiple times throughout the set. The closest they got was 21-18, but the Raiders responded with four points to end the set with a score of 25-19. The second set was a similar story, with the Raiders jumping out to an early 7-2 lead, though the Bison rallied to 10-9. Eventually, Colgate pushed ahead 22-19 and pulled away on a 3-2 run, ending the set 25-21. In the third set, Colgate again led early, putting eight on the Bison, who were unable to start a run as they dropped the last set, 25-14.

Volleyball continues conference play at home next weekend as they play American on Oct. 3 and Loyola (Md.) on Oct. 4.