Emily Evancho
Assistant Sports Editor
Women’s volleyball take two losses
The women’s volleyball team tried to dig deep this past weekend but faltered with two 3-0 losses against Navy and American.
“Every week is a battle in the Patriot League, and unfortunately we haven’t come out on top the past few weeks,” Rose Lewis ’14 said. “But our play against American, one of the top teams in the league, really showed our potential, and we hope to set that as a foundation moving forward to our games in the coming week.”
In the first set against Navy on Sept. 27, both teams passed the lead back and forth until Navy snatched five continuous points in the middle of the set, taking the lead at 10-5. The Bison could not hold back the Navy flood for long, eventually allowing the set to sink into Navy’s hands.
The Orange and Blue fought hard in the second set despite the growing power of Navy’s hitting strength, resulting in a 25-17 defeat. In the third set, the Bison continued to push but couldn’t pull through with a lead, eventually falling 25-20.
The Bison returned to the court on Sept. 28 to combat American in three nail-biting sets. The lead continually bounced from side to side in the first set with neither team allowing the other more than a two-point advantage. Despite three consecutive kills from Morgan Mientus ’14, the Bison fell 25-22 in the first set.
Not deterred by the loss of the first set, Kristen Titley ’14 stole the first point of the second set and eventually pulled the Bison to a 3-1 lead after two American errors. American would not go down easily, as the Eagles pulled out a 25-17 final score in the second set.
The Bison were determined in the third set, not allowing a 9-0 American lead in the beginning get them down. Erika Eastley ’17 and Jordan Walker ’17 helped trim American’s lead to 23-21 at the end of the set, but an American kill and Bison error finalized the set.
Titley registered a team-high seven kills, while Lewis completed 12 assists during the match and a service ace. Meghan Wentzel ’16 added 10 assists while Karen Campbell ’16 and Eastley both made four blocks. Kristen Parks ’17 had a match-high 14 digs in the game.
“While the team is not content with this past weekend’s results, I am proud of us because we were able to put up a strong fight against American on Saturday after losing to Navy on Friday night,” Wentzel said. “We have our work cut out for us, but I truly believe that we can take what we have learned so far this season and get the results we want.”
The Bison will challenge Lehigh tomorrow at 5 p.m. at their home court and Lafayette on Oct. 6 in Easton, Pa.
