volleyball News - August, 2009 Archive

Following an impressive 2008 volleyball season, the Saints welcome to the staff Westlake, OH native, Allison Busser, as new assistant coach for the 2009 campaign.

St. Lawrence University's volleyball team enjoyed one of the best seasons in the 29-year history of the sport at SLU in the fall of 2008 and with a roster which included no seniors and just three juniors, the gains in the first two seasons under head coach Melissa DeRan should continue.

St. Lawrence University's volleyball team lost to Skidmore 3-1 and Union 3-0 on Saturday finishing third in the 2008 Liberty League Championship Tournament.

The Saints, seeded third heading into tourney play, held their seed with Friday wins over Clarkson and Vassar and are now 28-12 on the year.

Sophomore Abby Rose and junior Jessica Lucky were named first team All Liberty League while first year Nyasha Miller was named to the second team all star squad. Lucky also received all tournament honors.

The Saints lost to Skidmore 3-1, winning game one 25-23 before Skidmore came back with 25-16, 25-14 and 25-15 wins. Lucky had 12 kills and 16 digs, Rose 41 assists and 12 digs and Miller had five kills, 14 digs and four blocks in the Skidmore match.

Champion Union turned back the Saints 25-20, 25-21 and 25-17 as Rose had 19 assists and seven digs, Lucky had eight kills and nine digs and Miller six kills and 10 digs.

 

 

SAINTS 2-0 AFTER DAY ONE OF LIBERTY LEAGUE TOURNEY

St. Lawrence won a thriller against Clarkson with a huge comeback and then turned back Vassar in three straight games as the third-seeded Saints went 2-0 on day one of the Liberty League tournament at Union on Friday.

Nov. 1: St. Lawrence University's volleyball team established a program record for wins in a season Saturday afternoon as the Saints completed their home season with a 3-0 win over SUNY-IT.

St. Lawrence improved to 26-10 heading into the Liberty League Tournament at Union next weekend where the Saints are the third seed, their highest seeding since the inception of that tournament.

Nyasha Miller and Jessica Lucky led the Saints up front and Megan McNiven had a dozen digs as the Saints won 25-14, 25-14, 26-24.

Miller had 11 kills and two aces to go with six digs in the three games while Lucky had ten kills and eight digs.

Miller had five of her kills in game one of the match while Natalie Kurtz and Liz Grogan had three each and Abby Rose added ten assists and three digs. Lucky had five kills and Marta Johann had three kills and a perfect hitting percentage with Katherine Pierce adding eight assists in game two.

The Saints trailed 20-19 late in game three, but fought off SUNYIT and posted the come-from-behind win. Miller had four kills and Lucky three while Rose had nine assists and two service aces in the third game win.

 

 

Oct. 31: The Saints and Potsdam split their first two games in a volleyball match in Potsdam on Friday night, but the Bears won a close game three and went on to a 3-1 win over St. Lawrence, denying the Saints a record-setting 26th win.

Oct. 24: St. Lawrence University's volleyball team tied the program's all-time win record with two wins at the Skidmore Invitational, bouncing back from an opening loss to Skidmore with wins over Union and Ramapo before losing their fourth match of the tournament to a strong Cortland team..

The Saints, now 25-9, lost to host Skidmore in the opening match, 25-12, 25-19, 25-16, but came back to upend Union, 3-1, winning three straight games after losing the first game of the match. Union won game one 25-18, but the Saints came back with 25-20, 25-14 and 25-17 victories for the match win. The Saints won their 25th with a 25-18, 25-14, 19-25, 25-22 win over Ramapo. Cortland, which went unbeaten in its four matches, beat the Saints 25-20, 25-14, 25-16.

The 25 wins tie the 1988 team which went 25-17.

Natalie Kurtz had six kills and four blocks, Kelly Fuchs had six kills and 10 digs and Jordyn Buzza had 10 digs in the Skidmore match.

Nyasha Miller had 13 kills and Jess Lucky had 11 and 10 digs to lead the Saints at the net in the win over Union while Katherine Pierce had 17 digs and Abby Rose had 11 digs and 36 assists.

 

Rose had 25 digs, Megan McNiven 15, Lucky 10 and Miller 12 in the win over Ramapo while Lucky had 13 kills and Miller 13. Kelly Fuchs, Miller and Liz Grogan had four kills each in the Cortland match while Pierce led the defense with 12 digs and McNiven and Lucky had eight each.

 

Oct. 22: The St. Lawrence University volleyball team improved to 23-7 on the season thanks to solid efforts by first-year students Alison Limoncelli and Liz Grogan, as the Saints swept Paul Smiths by the scores of 25-6, 25-15 and 25-11 on Wednesday evening at the Burkman Gymnasium.

Rookies Kelly Fuchs and Nyasha Miller led the Saints with six kills each, while junior Lara Gibbons finished with seven service aces and Grogan added six.

Limoncelli, Grogan and classmate Katherine Pierce would help the Scarlet and Brown build an early 7-3 lead over the visitors in the opening game. When Grogan was handed the ball on her serve, she and her teammates rattled off 13 straight points to take a comfortable lead. Miller anchored the run with several impressive kills and secured the 25-6 opening game win for St. Lawrence.

Paul Smith's worked to settle in early in the second game, as they opened up a 3-2 early lead behind the play of Kim Plail. The Saints would regain their stride, however, and open up a comfortable 16-7 lead thanks to the play up front by Fuchs. Though Brittany Jones would close the gap for the Bobcats, the Saints were simply too much, winning 25-15.

Oct. 18: St. Lawrence University's volleyball team won its first tournament title since 2000 Saturday, taking the championship in the Hartwick/Holiday Inn Invitational with a 3-2 win over Hartwick in match one on Saturday and a 3-0 win over Lycoming in the championship game.

The Saints, whose title is the first under coach Melissa DeRan, improved to 22-7 with the weekend sweep. The Saints last won a tournament title when they went 3-0 in the season opening Cazenovia Invitational to start the 2000 season.

The Saints won game one against Hartwick 25-22, but the host Hawks came back with back-to-back 25-23 wins to take a 2-1 advantage in the match. The Saints won game four 25-21 to force a decisive fifth game and won that 15-11 to advance to the championship game and a rematch with Lycoming, the Saints? first round opponent.
SLU turned back Lycoming 25-20, 25-20 and 25-14 to take the tournament title.

Jess Lucky and Abby Rose were each named to the All Tournament team for the Saints and were among several players who had big days in the weekend sweep.

Lucky had 13 kills and 25 digs and Rose had 40 assists and 30 digs in the win over Hartwick. Natalie Kurtz added nine kills and two block assists, Kelly Fuchs and Jordan Buzza had eight kills each and Meg McNiven had 24 digs in the Hartwick match.

Oct. 14: The St. Lawrence University volleyball team battled its North Country rival Clarkson University to a five-game match on Tuesday evening in the Burkman Gymnasium. Though the Saints had several opportunities to close out the Golden Knights, the visitors were able to come from behind thanks to the defense of Alison Schroeder, topping St. Lawrence 3-2 by the scores of 25-19, 25-27, 18-25, 25-19 and 17-15.

Junior Natalie Kurtz and rookie Nyasha Miller led the Saints (18-7) with 15 kills each while junior co-captain Jessica Lucky chipped in 14. Sophomore Abigail Rose finished with 56 assists on the evening for the home team, while classmate Megan McNiven led the squad with 25 digs.

Clarkson (15-13), who had lost two previous meetings against St. Lawrence earlier this season, made an early statement with a 25-19 game one victory. Jenna Stock and Rachel Simons played well at the net for the Knights, who took an early three point lead. Though the Saints would cut into Clarkson's lead behind the play of junior co-captain Jess Lucky and rookie Marta Johann, the visitors would take advantage of several errors by St. Lawrence to open up an 18-13 cushion. With the game in hand, Megan Mahon's kill would put the game in the win column for Clarkson when her kill went off of a St. Lawrence blocker and out of bounds.

Oct. 11: Junior outside hitter Jessica Lucky picked up 24 kills and 18 digs while rookie outside hitter Nyasha Miller chipped in a total of 23 kills and 40 digs as the St. Lawrence University volleyball team rallied for wins against St. John Fisher and Pitt-Bradford in Rochester, NY on Saturday afternoon.

The Saints (18-6) dropped the opening game in each of their matches, but railed off three consecutive wins in the follow games for a pair of 3-1 victories.

In the opening match, the Saints and hosting Cardinals from St. John Fisher proved to be very competitive opponents, as three of the four games were decided by two points. Though St. John Fisher picked up a 25-23 win in the opening game, Lucky and Miller led the Saints back with 25-23 and 25-21 wins to pull to within a game of the victory.

Though the Cardinals pushed the Saints to the brink, the Scarlet and Brown were able to hold on for a fourth game win, 25-23, and earn the 3-1 victory.

Lucky finished with 11 kills and 18 digs in the contest, while Miller tossed in 11 kills and 26 digs. Sophomore setter Abigail Rose added 18 digs.

In the second match, the University of Pitt-Bradford followed St. John Fisher's lead of taking a 1-0 advantage on the Saints after a 25-22 win. That wouldn't stand, though, as St. Lawrence rebounded with an impressive 25-18 victory to even the match at 1-1.

Oct. 3: First years Nyasha Miller and Marta Johann combined for 17 kills with just two errors between them as St. Lawrence beat host Elmira 3-0 in the opening round of the Elmira Tournament on Friday night to improve to 15-5 on the season.

The Saints beat Oswego 3-1 with scores of 20-25, 25-18, 25-16 and 25-15 and lost to D'Youville 25-22, 25-21 and 25-19 in Saturday matches. Miller had nine kills and five blocks and Jessica Lucky had eight kills and 13 digs in the Oswego match. Katherine Pierce chipped in with seven assists and 21 digs while Abby Rose had 23 assists and seven digs to go with two block assists. Johann added five kills and five block assists. Kelly Fuchs had six kills against D;Youville and Lauren Drozynski chipped in five. Rose had 26 assists and three block assists while Johann had three kills and four block assists.

SLU won the Elmira match 25-21, 25-18 and 25-19 for their third consecutive match victory. Miller had ten kills and Johann had seven kills and four blocks as they both turned in a strong game at the net. Megan McNiven added 15 digs on the defensive side of the ledger as the Saints are enjoying one of their best seasons since the early 1990s.