The Bison volleyball team kicked off Patriot League play this past weekend against the Lehigh Mountain Hawks and the Lafayette Leopards. The Bison hosted the two games on Saturday, Sept. 28 and Sunday, Sept. 29.

The Bison began the weekend with a hard-fought, four-set match against Lehigh. Even though the Bison played their best, the match ended in a 3-1 loss (25-21, 21-25, 25-19, 25-22).

The Orange and Blue lost the first set but bounced back to win the second set. Lehigh overcame the Bison in the next two sets to clinch the win. Mimi Richards ’20 and Lisa Zoch ’23 collected a total of 11 kills each. Zoch also had 17 digs and her first double-double of the season.

After the match against Lehigh, the Bison bounced back with a four-set victory over Lafayette the next day.

The Bison overpowered Lafayette in all but the second set, winning (25-17, 21-25, 25-22, 23-25). Sophie Bullard ’20 and Richards led in scoring. Bullard finished the match with 15 kills and 17 digs, while Richards finished with 13 kills. Junior Anna Carroll ’21 added four blocks and 11 kills to the effort.

“You either win or you learn, and this weekend we did both,” Richards said. “We are looking forward to the rest of the Patriot League. We are happy about [how the] first week of Patriot League went. We have a lot more games ahead of us.”

The Bison finished the weekend with a 1-1 record in Patriot League competition, and 12-2 overall. The Bison will be back in action on Oct. 4 and Oct. 5 when they travel to Loyola (Md.) and American University.