By Ajan Caneda

Writer

The women’s volleyball team ended their season with back-to-back straight set losses at Army and Holy Cross last weekend.

The Bison failed to end the season with a win at Army on Saturday. The team struggled in the first set as the Golden Knights got off to a 19-7 run. The Bison improved in the next set but were defeated 25-14. The third set was the most competitive as the Orange and Blue had 12 kills. After Army took a 23-17 lead, the Bison went on a 5-0 run to pull within one thanks to two straight service aces from Rose Lewis ’14 and an assist from her to Kristen Titley ’14.

It would not be enough as Army pulled away to win the set 25-22. Setter Kat Tauscher ’13 contributed 20 assists while Katie Baumgarten ’12 and Kebah Edoho ’13 led the Orange and Blue with six kills each. The Bison finished with an attack percentage of .129, .121 and .086 in each set, respectively. Emily Sawanobori ’12 had another defensive showcase as with 13 digs.

Last Friday, the Orange and Blue battled Holy Cross in a hard fought contest and were on the attack from the start. The Bison got off to an early 3-0 lead in the first set as Sawanobori started with two service aces. She finished with four for the game. Both teams battled hard in all three sets, but the Crusaders came out on top each time (25-20, 25-21, 25-21).

McAhren’12 and Edoho ’13 lead the Bison with nine kills and seven kills respectively and Sawanobori also contributed a team-high 13 digs. The Orange and Blue finished with .189 and .196 attack percentages in the first two sets, but struggled as they had a -.029 percentage in the third set. Tauscher ’13 added 19 assists for the Bison.

The Bison tied for sixth in the Patriot League and ended the 2011 season with a 6-17 record, going 3-11 in conference play.