Katherine Harris
Writer
Last weekend, the women’s volleyball team started its Patriot League season on the road, falling to both Lafayette and Lehigh.
The Bison traveled to Lafayette on Sept. 21 to face off against the Leopards in their Patriot League season opener. While the team lot in four sets, many individuals still had powerful performances on the night. Defense was strong for the Orange and Blue, with Karen Campbell ’16 racking up six blocks, while Kebah Edoho ’13 and Amanda Hall ’15 had five each.
Morgan Mientus ’14 and Claire Healy ’16 put up 24 and 10 digs for the Bison, respectively, while teammate Kat Tauscher ’13 contributed a career-high 12 to go along with 21 assists. Right behind her on offense was Meghan Wentzel ’16 who recorded 17 assists that day.
“We didn’t start out playing strong on Friday,” Healy said. “Our mentality going into the game against Lafayette was that we had it in the bag, but we learned the hard way that we should never go into a match too comfortable.”
The next day was a quick turnaround for the Orange and Blue as they traveled to Lehigh for a match the next afternoon. While the squad posted a strong offensive performance to win the first set, it could not duplicate the effort for the rest of the game, losing 3-1.
Once again, defense was strong for the Bison, with Jessica Serrato ’14, Edoho and Campbell each recording five blocks. Edoho also put up 10 kills on the day, keeping her streak of solid performances intact. Teammates Mientus and Tauscher were also consistent, earning 16 digs and 25 assists, respectively.
“This weekend we got off to a slow start against Lafayette. We unfortunately could not put our preparation into action and didn’t play at our level. However, by the start of our game against Lehigh on Saturday, our team had a whole new mentality which showed in the first three sets of the match,” Serrato said. “While we didn’t pull out the win, we left with a sense of what we are capable of in terms of both physical ability and team dynamics going forward in the league.”
The Bison will regroup and prepare to face their next Patriot League opponent, Army, as they travel to West Point, N.Y. for their match tonight at 7 p.m.