Bucknell University
Lafayette
Bucknell Volleyball Falls at Lafayette, 3-0
11/5/2011 8:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Nov. 5, 2011
EASTON, Pa. -- Lafayette pulled out close victories in the first and third sets en route to a 3-0 win over Bucknell in a Patriot League volleyball match Saturday afternoon at the Kirby Sports Center. Kyleigh McAhren belted 11 kills for the Bison, who fell to 6-15 overall and 3-9 in the Patriot League.
Kaitlynn Zoller logged a team-high nine kills and Danielle Towslee added eight for the Leopards (9-16, 2-10), who avenged a 3-0 loss to Bucknell earlier in the year.
Kebah Edoho added six kills and hit .625 for the Bison, while Jessica Serrato and Katie Baumgarten tallied five kills apiece. Kat Tauscher finished with 19 assists and seven digs, while Emily Sawanobori led the team with nine digs.
Lafayette won by set scores of 26-24, 25-14, 30-28. The Bison maintained small leads throughout most of the first set. The Leopards took their first lead at 20-19, and soon after they were up 24-21 after a shared block by Towslee and Camissa Beghou. But the Bison staved off three set points, tying it up at 24-all on a Lafayette service error, an ace by Morgan Markarian and then a McAhren kill. The Leopards went back ahead on a Sarah Frohnapfel kill, and then they won it on an ace by Towslee.
The second set was tight most of the way through, until Lafayette finished on a big run. It was just a two-point margin at 15-13, but the Leopards closed it out with a 10-1 run, capped by a Melanie Weiss ace.
In set No. 3, the Bison got off to a strong start, going up 4-1 behind some strong serving from Tauscher and Baumgarten and kills from Edoho and Serrato. But Lafayette answered with three straight points, and things were ultra-tight from there as neither team led by more than two points the rest of the way.
A McAhren kill gave Bucknell its first set point of the night at 24-23, but Alexandra Russo tied it with a put-away of her own. Bucknell went back up 25-24 on a Lafayette service error, but then the Bison gave the point right back on a service error.
The Bison then held off two match points, and they went back up 28-27 on a hitting error by Beghou. But two straight Alana Taylor kills put the Leopards up 29-28, and for the third straight set Lafayette closed it out with an ace, this one from Beghou.
Lafayette outhit the Bison .258 to .086 and had 10 aces to Bucknell's six. The Bison led 35-32 in digs.
Bucknell closes out its 2011 campaign with a pair of road matches next weekend. The Bison visit Holy Cross next Friday followed by Army on Saturday.
