The Bison volleyball team fell short to Army Friday, Sept. 22, but defeated Colgate on Sept. 23 for the first time since 2010. Their record moved to 7-7 on the season, and 1-1 in the Patriot League.

The Orange and Blue opened Patriot League play with a 0-3 loss to Army in Davis Gym. The first set started off well with a six point lead thanks to the serving of Delanie Lewis ’21, who won five consecutive points.

In the second set, the Bison rallied from six points down to tie the set at 20-20 with a kill from Luz Nagle ’18. Mimi Richards ’20 contributed nine kills, four block assists, and four digs, while teammate Sophie Bullard ’20 recorded a team-high 12 digs. Despite the loss, the team learned from the match against Army to improve in their match the next day against Colgate.

“These were intense matches and I think our focus and consistency improved throughout the weekend,” Bridgette Holland ’20 said. “Focusing throughout the whole match will be a priority in the coming weeks.”

On Sept. 23, for the first time in seven years, the Bison defeated the Colgate Raiders in an exciting four set match. Bullard notched another double-double with 15 kills and 14 digs, while Stefanie Alpert ’18 had nine kills. In the second set, the Bison won seven straight points, thanks to a serving streak from Blake Buchholz ’19, to put the Bison up in the set 20-10. A final kill from Richards secured the second set for the Bison.

During the first three sets of the match, Richards had 16 kills and a hitting average of .593. She finished the four sets with a hitting average of .459, 22 kills, six blocks and five digs. Brooke Stark ’20 finished with nine digs and Hailey Stout ’18 had eight. Nagle had 27 assists, while Alexa Bonanno ’21 finished with 19.

After last weekend’s matches, the Bison lead the Patriot League in blocks per set with 2.61, and Richards leads all individual players with 1.76 per set.

The Orange and Blue will continue Patriot League play on Sept. 29 in Davis Gym, hosting Lafayette at 7 p.m. The Bison have won six out of their last seven meetings against the Leopards.