ROCHESTER, NY (October 2, 2015) – The Vassar College women's volleyball team fell to St. Lawrence University to start Friday evening's Liberty League action, but responded with a three-set win over Bard College in the nightcap. VC fell to SLU 25-16, 25-14 and 27-25, while taking the win over the Raptors with scores of 25-20, 25-13 and 25-17 in play from Clark Gym on the campus of Rochester Institute of Technology.

St. Lawrence 3, Vassar 0
The Saints of St. Lawrence, who came into the match with the most kills in the Liberty League, added 37 more and hit .245 for the match in handing the Brewers their third conference loss of the season. The first two sets were all Saints, as St. Lawrence hit over .333 for each game in racing out to a 2-0 lead.

In the third game, Vassar the Saints to just .114 attacking for the period as Vassar registered 13 kills in the set to the 12 of SLU. In the game, VC led for most of the set including taking a 21-16 lead after an attacking error by the Saints. St. Lawrence eventually tied the game at 22, and Vassar did have a game point at 24-23, but SLU answered with two straight points.

After VC fended off one attempt to end the match by the Saints, the Brewers could not repeat the task at 26-25. Junior Gabby Miller (Scottsdale, AZ/Horizon) led the Brewer attack with a match-high 10 kills on 25 attacks, adding two aces and seven digs to her ledger. Sophomore Bria Corham (Kansas City, MO/Montville Township) also added seven terminations and two aces.

Senior libero Chloe Hallum (Olympia, WA/Olympia) chalked up a team-best 16 digs, and freshman setter Annie MacMillan (Colorado Springs, CO/Coronado) added 19 assists. The Brewers hit .078 (27-19-108) for the match, finished with seven service aces as well. Freshman Lauren Ninkovich (Portland, OR/Oregon Episcopal School) additionally chipped in eight digs for VC.

Vassar 3, Bard 0
The Brewers were able to pick up a much-needed victory over Bard College in the evening match, but the scrappy Raptors (8-10, 0-6 Liberty) made things difficult in the opening set. The defense for the match for Vassar was very strong, holding Bard to negative hitting in two of the three sets as well as for the match as a whole.

In the opening stanza the Brewers led by as many as eight points at 13-5, but the Raptors strung six points together to climb to within two at 13-11. Bard got to as close at 15-14 after an ace by Phillippine Alba, but two kills by sophomore Alex Sams (Los Angeles, CA/Beverly Hills) during three straight VC points put the score at 18-14 Vassar.

VC kept on the Raptors, taking another six point edge at 23-17 on an ace by Sams, as the Brewers held on the for win. In the second set, Vassar posted 12 kills to just four errors and forced the Raptors into eight hitting mistakes and just three kills in rolling to the 25-13 win. The final game saw Vassar once again hold Bard to negative hitting while Miller led the team with four kills, securing the victory.

Sams was highly effective in the Brewers' win, chalking up eight kills, eight digs and an ace as she led the team in attacks with 25. Freshman Devan Gallagher (San Francisco, CA/Urban School of San Francisco) led all hitters with nine kills, and Sophia Tiajoloff (Kinnelon, NJ/Kinnelon) added 17 assists, five digs and two blocks. Hallum led the Brewers with 10 digs, and junior Sierra Tobin (Santa Cruz, CA/Santa Cruz) posted six digs as well.

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The Brewers (8-7, 3-3 Liberty) will take on host RIT at 12 p.m. in Clark Gym Saturday, followed by another Liberty League match at 2 p.m. with No. 18 Clarkson University.