By Colin Fields
Writer
The women’s volleyball team fell to Army in straight sets last Friday night, but rebounded the following day to defeat Holy Cross in straight sets on Saturday in Davis Gymnasium. The Bison’s Morgan Mientus ’14 and Jessica Serrato ’14 racked up a total of 29 kills to help beat the Crusaders.
The Orange and Blue offense stagnated in the first set against Army while only Mientus tallied more than one kill. Army’s offense struggled equally, trailing 18-16 late in the first set but were able to pull away 25-21 over the Orange and Blue. In the second set the Bison fell behind 21-14, but pulled out a 7-2 run of its own to draw within two of the Black Knights at 23-21. Army won the next two points and capped of the second set 25-21. The Black Knights carried this momentum into the third set and defeated the Bison 25-15. Kyleigh McAhren ’12 led the Bison with five kills.
“We have a lot to improve on and hopefully we can start winning consecutive games. Moving forward, we need to play more consistently and hopefully we can do so in our upcoming home matches,” Mientus said.
The Bison picked up their second straight Patriot League sweep on Saturday, Oct. 15. The offense was the difference, allowing the Orange and Blue to record their highest attack percentage of the year. The Bison took the first set 25-22 and the Crusaders never pulled closer than two during the duration of the set. The second set was closer, and while tied at 9-9, Rose Lewis ’14 served consecutive aces to gain the lead. The Orange and Blue were able to close out the second set by the same score of 25-22. In the third set, the sophomore tandem of Mientus and Serrato shined. Mientus scored three consecutive kills on assists by Kat Tauscher ’13 to gain an early lead and Serrato scored a kill to push the game to match point. Tauscher put the finishing touch on the victory with an ace for a 25-19 win in the final frame.
The Bison open up homecoming competition with a re-match against Navy tonight, their Senior Night. They face American tomorrow.
“I think that our team needs to work on finishing matches in the first three games, rather than giving the other team a chance. We had opportunities to beat Navy in the third and fourth games, but we didn’t capitalize on them. I feel good about our rematch with Navy because we have the home-court advantage this time around,” McAhren said.