Author: Lauren Boone

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Sports Volleyball Women

Women’s volleyball digs out two victories in first home matches

Emily Evancho

Assistant Sports Editor 

The women’s volleyball team pulled through its matches this past weekend with a loss against Canisius and two victories over Fairleigh Dickinson and Rider, respectively. These were the first home court matches of the season for the Bison.

In the match against Fairleigh Dickinson on Sept. 13, the Orange and Blue entered the match with the intent to win, triumphing in their first set easily. Fairleigh Dickinson finally awakened, providing tough competition in the second and third sets. But ultimately the Bison dominated the court with six straight points in the fourth set, leading to a hard fought win in the fifth set. Katie Price ’16 achieved 21 digs during the match, while Morgan Mientus ’14 recorded 13 kills and 11 digs. Keane Brazda ’17 also pulled in 14 assists in three sets, bringing the match to a 3-2 win.

“We played really well as a team this weekend and it showed when we had to go to a fifth game with Fairleigh Dickinson which is a short game to 15 and takes everyone on the court and bench to step up and focus for 20 minutes,” Brazda said.

The Orange and Blue had an even tougher fight in the team’s first match on Sept. 14 against Canisius. The Bison secured the first two sets of the match but lost steam heading into the third set. The Bison ultimately dropped the match into lap of Canisius with a 3-2 loss.

The defeat did not hold back the momentum of the Orange and Blue in their second match of the day, when they pulled a 3-1 victory from the teeth of the Rider Broncs. The match was a tug of war in which the Bison captured the first two sets only to be beaten by Rider in the third. In the fourth set, the Orange and Blue came back determined, only trailing once to eventually claim victory after taking advantage of Rider’s three service errors during the match.

Mientus continued her solid performance, posting 12 kills against the Broncs and double-digit digs for both matches on the day, followed by Price who made 42 digs combined from both matches. Brazda also pushed the team with 59 assists in the two matches. Also for the Bison, Karen Campbell ’16 and Jordan Walker ’17 represented the Orange and Blue on the All-Tournament Team.

“Our hard work during pre-season is paying off,” Brazda said. “We plan to take this mentality into Patriot League play.”

The Orange and Blue return to the court tonight to challenge Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. Tomorrow, the team will travel to West Point, N.Y. to battle Army.

Categories
Men Sports Tennis

Men’s tennis keeps climbing

Chris McCree

Senior Writer

The men’s tennis team continues to build on its early success by taking the Flight C singles and Flight A consolation title at the Mount St. Mary’s Invitational last weekend in Emmitsburg, Md. Colby Burke ’17 defeated teammate Irwin Reibeisen ’14 in the Flight C finals on Sept. 15 after both players cruised through their first two matches. Scott Bernstein ’14 also came away with the victory in the consolation bracket.

“I think we competed well and can definitely build off of this weekend,” Reibeisen said. “The beginning of the season is always a time to get solid match play in and continue to build team chemistry.” 

Though the only two Bison in the Flight C bracket, Burke and Reibeisen dominated the first two rounds. Neither of the two allowed an opponent to take more than three games in a single set. Both players competed in their toughest match when they faced off in a back-and-forth contest that ended in a 7-5, 6-4 win for Burke.

“Playing these matches enables me to see what I am doing well and what I can improve upon,” Reibeisen said. “I am very motivated to work hard in areas that need improvement as well as continue to improve my strengths.”

Despite his loss in the first round, Bernstein battled back to take the consolation title in Flight A singles. During his second round matchup against Harrison Kunkel of Loyola (Md.), Bernstein recovered from a one-set deficit to claim the victory in a tiebreaker 10-3. Bernstein went on to win a close matchup in the finals against Daniel Nino of Coppin State and claim fifth place overall for the Orange and Blue.

“Overall, I believe we posted a solid performance at Mount St. Mary’s,” Bernstein said. “We fought hard to magnify our strengths, execute smart strategies and gain better court-sense. It’s important in the beginning tournaments of the season to find some fundamental personal areas to improve on for the rest of the season.”

With two weeks of competitive action under their belt, the Orange and Blue will head to Flushing, N.Y. this weekend to take part in the USTA Tournament. Still in the early stages of the season, the team will look to build on its early success and work toward its ultimate goal of the Patriot League Championship.

“We have a lot of talent and experience on this team,” Reibeisen said. “We need to continue working to maximize our potential as a collective unit. I have high hopes for this season– the Patriot League title is within reach.”

Categories
Sports Tennis Women

Women’s tennis wins five of seven brackets in Mt. St. Mary’s Invitational

Claudia Silvers

Contributing Writer

The women’s tennis team is off to a strong start in its fall tournament season after winning five of the seven brackets at the Mount St. Mary’s Invitational in Emmitsburg, Md. this past weekend.

Though fall tournaments are scored individually, the Bison won two doubles finals and claimed three singles titles at the end of the competition.

“I thought our doubles looked particularly strong for this early in the season. Sending three of our four doubles teams to the semifinals shows just how hard we work on the specifics of doubles,” head coach Rebecca Helt said.

Maria Cioffi ’16/Elena Vidrascu ’14 and Stephanie Pino ’16/Lydia Colvin ’15 won doubles crowns on the final day of the tournament. The Bison also appeared in the finals in four of the five singles flights. Cioffi made it to the final round of Flight A, ultimately losing to Megan Hahn from Loyola (Md.) 1-6, 6-2, 11-9. Flight C ended in an all-Bison final, with Melissa Parks ’17 claiming another close victory in a tiebreaker over Colvin. Jorie Fox ’17 won the singles title against Loyola (Md.) for Flight D, and Pino took victory over Coppin State for another Bison win in Flight E.

“It was a great chance to see all the freshmen in action and to observe how quickly they are picking up new strategies in their individual games,” Helt said.

Vidrascu, one of the two team captains, also noted the success of the first-year players.

“There were a few titles won, two of them being from our freshmen, which is a promising start to our season,” Vidrascu said.

Beginning today, the Bison will host the three-day Bucknell Invitational, the second home tournament of the fall.

Categories
Soccer Sports Women

Women’s soccer tops Towson

Doug Hendry

Contributing Writer

The women’s soccer team snapped its four-game losing streak in Maryland this past weekend, as it blanked Towson 1-0 on Sept. 13 at the Tiger Soccer Complex. In its second game of the weekend against UMBC, the Retrievers scored a late goal to win 1-0 at Retriever Soccer Park on Sept. 15.

Back on the road for a pair of games in Maryland, the Bison faced off against the Towson Tigers. Both teams started slow, with the scoreboard still blank at the end of the first half. In the second half, two juniors helped put the Orange and Blue into the lead. Brigit Falcon ’15 put the winning goal into the back of the net with the assist from Evelyn Nicinski ’15 in the 71st minute. The shot was Falcon’s first goal of the season.

Towson stepped up the pressure through the final part of the game, but the clutch play of Jessie Ashworth ’16, including five total saves, preserved the third shutout of the season for the Bison.

“The victory over Towson was crucial to building confidence and putting the past couple games behind us,” defender Lauren Dandie ’16 said. “We have a young back line which has had to endure some unfortunate injuries and adjust to new personalities, so getting this shutout is something we take a lot of pride in.”

On Sept. 15, for the second game in a row, the score was tied 0-0 at halftime, with the time of possession heavily favoring UMBC. The Bison were outshot 5-1 in the first half.

It looked as if the game was going to go into overtime, but UMBC headed the ball into the net off a far corner for the lone goal with 5:06 remaining. This score proved to be the deciding factor in UMBC’s victory.

The Bison have scored eight goals through eight games this season, while racking up nearly 15 shots per game.

The women’s soccer team, now 3-5, will face Army at home tomorrow at 2 p.m. for the start of conference play. Dandie has confidence in her team going against Patriot League opponents.

“With league play right around the corner, I believe that we need to take one opponent at a time and focus in on that. Hopefully from here on out we are able to stay healthy and continue to work hard in practices and stay positive as a team. We are an extremely close unit, and if we work for each other on the field while doing our individual jobs, I have faith that the victories will come,” Dandie said.

Categories
Men Soccer Sports

Men’s soccer continues winning streak

Ajan Caneda

Copy Editor

The men’s soccer team finished this weekend on the road with two shutout wins, defeating Albany 1-0 on Sept. 13, followed by a 2-0 victory against Siena on Sept. 15. The Orange and Blue are now 4-2 this season. Mayowa Alli ’14 earned Brine Patriot League Defensive Player of the Week honors for the second week in a row, while Jesse Klug ’16 earned his first career Offensive Player of the Week award.

The Bison entered their first road match looking to go over .500 for the first time this year. Shot attempts once again told the story for the Orange and Blue, who held a 9-3 shot advantage in the first half. Neither team found the net in the first half, but Klug lifted the Bison to a 1-0 lead just 2:05 into the second half. Justin Galiani ’17 delivered an assist to Klug, who was able to dribble across the box and launch the ball in the top right corner of the net. Albany had opportunities to bring the game into overtime, including a corner kick header in the 87th minute that sailed over the bar and a follow-up attempt in the 89th minute that was stopped by goalie Mike Lansing ’16, which sealed the win for the Orange and Blue.

“The key aspects to this weekend was everyone just doing their part and working as hard as they needed to to get a collective team win. In the Albany game it was just a grind-it-out match, and we prevailed from desire,” Josh Butzke ’14 said.

Against Siena, Butzke and Klug led the Bison to their fourth straight victory. The first goal came in the 21st minute when Sebastiaan Blickman ’17 dished the ball to Chris Thorsheim ’16, who found Klug on the breakaway. In just the beginning of the season, Klug scored his third goal of the year, tying his last season’s total. Butzke registered his second career goal in the 52nd minute after a defensive header ricocheted back, allowing him to score from 22 yards out. The Bison defense was stellar once again, holding its opponent to under 10 shots for the fourth time this season.

“With Siena, we played a great all-around game and really moved the ball well. As for my game, I was just ready for it and felt like I was going to really connect,” Butzke said.

Lansing, who had five saves against Siena, claimed his third shutout of the season.

“Personally, since the first two losses, I have made it my focus to work on the mental aspect of the game and to make sure that all of my orders to the back line are clear and precise. I’ve also pushed myself to be more aggressive on crosses and long balls into my 18. My defensive unit has been outstanding in the last four games,” Lansing said.

The Bison travel to New Jersey tomorrow to take on Seton Hall at 1 p.m.