Over the weekend, the Bison volleyball team faced two Patriot League opponents in Baltimore and Washington, D.C. Despite valiant efforts, the Orange and Blue fell to both Loyola and American University.

On Oct. 4, the Bison competed against Loyola, where they came back from two sets down to force a fifth set. The Greyhounds won sets one and two by scores of 25-22 and 27-25, respectively. In the third set, the Bison gained momentum with a 25-23 win. They prevailed in the fourth set, as well, winning 25-22 to set up a winner-take-all ending. The fourth set was the most suspenseful, with the match being tied on nine separate occasions.

After a tough battle, the Bison fell in the fifth set, 15-8. Despite the loss, several Bison stood out on the night, especially Brooke Stark ’20, who collected a career-high 37 digs. She is now in fourth place on the school’s career record list.

Mimi Richards ’20, Sophie Bullard ’20 and Anna Carroll ’21 led the team in kills with 13, 10 and 10 kills, respectively. Overall, the team had a .171 hitting percentage while the Greyhounds finished with a hitting percentage of .218.

On Oct. 5, the Bison traveled to American University, where they hoped to pick up a Patriot League win and even out the weekend. However, American took the Bison down in three straight sets (25-21, 25-14, and 25-21). Carroll led the Bison with nine kills, while Bullard and Lisa Zoch ’23 each tallied seven kills. The hitting percentages for this game were .187 for the Bison and .327 for the Eagles.

 “I think that this weekend showed myself and the rest of the team that we are capable of beating anyone in the league this year, which hasn’t been the case in the past,” Stark said. “We need to work on our consistency as we will have really amazing moments, but then lose our focus. What is cool about our league is that we get the opportunity to play each of these teams again and at home which tends to be an advantage for us.”

The Bison will be back in action at home next weekend to play against Army on Oct. 11 and Holy Cross on Oct. 12.