This past weekend was a weekend of ending trends for the volleyball team. On Nov. 7, the Bison took on Lafayette in Easton, and the 3-0 victory gave the Bison their fourth conference win of the season, their most since 2010. However, the Orange and Blue fell the next day to Lehigh 3-0 at home.

The Bison controlled the entire match against Lafayette (25-15, 25-21, 26-24). The Bison turned to their usual, consistent contributors to win the match against the Patriot League foe.

On the attacking end, Karen Campbell ’16 contributed 14 kills and three blocks, finishing with a .333 hitting percentage. Hailey Stout ’18 tied Campbell with 14 kills. Setters Luz Nagle ’18 and Meghan Wentzel ’16 both had active roles, as Nagle finished with 26 assists and Wentzel with 12. On the defensive end, Kristen Parks ’17 led the team with 17 digs as well as four service aces. Stout followed closely behind with 16 digs and two aces.

“All season, we’ve come close to winning games and keeping up with the teams ranked higher than us in the Patriot League, but we just haven’t been able to finish strong and actually win,” Campbell said. “When we played Lafayette, we really wanted to have a game where we start strong from the beginning to end and also take advantage of the opportunity of improving our record from last year.”

The Bison played consistently throughout the match, quickly putting away any hope the Leopards had. The final set put up a bit of trouble for the Bison as they trailed 24-23 towards the end. The Bison remained calm and capitalized on Lafayette’s mistakes.

Jordan Walker ’17 won the game for the Bison with a kill off an assist from Nagle. 

The excitement from the win was quickly stopped the following night when the Lehigh Mountain Hawks entered Davis Gym. Lehigh won in three sets (25-19, 25-18, 25-13), leaving the Bison suffering their first sweep in their last six matches. This is the second time Lehigh has clinched a win over the Orange and Blue this season.

Despite previously leading the Patriot League in blocks for the season, they clocked in at a season low against the Mountain Hawks. Several players still shone bright in the game, such as Parks with 20 digs, Wentzel with 22 assists, and Walker with nine kills and seven digs.

Lehigh (13-2 PL) has been a formidable foe the entire season, and the victory clinched its spot in the Patriot League Tournament. The Bison have now dropped to 4-11 in the Patriot League and 5-18 overall.

The Bison will finish their season with home matches against Loyola on Nov. 14 at 7 p.m. and non-conference opponent NJIT on Nov. 15 at 4 p.m. Senior Day will be celebrated in the match against Loyola.