PURCHASE, N.Y. - The men's volleyball teams from Bard and Mount St. Vincent have been so busy beating each other up, they forgot to pay attention to Sage.
On Saturday in a quad meet at SUNY Purchase - just a few days after rallying from a two-set deficit to beat Mount St. Vincent in an intense, five-set match - Bard
lost to Mount St. Vincent in what was another incredible five-setter. It put the two rivals in a flat-footed tie for first place in the Skyline Conference.
But only for a couple of hours.
Mount St. Vincent was swept by Sage in its next match, and now it's Bard and Sage who are tied for first place in the Skyline.
Guess who's coming to Bard on Tuesday night at 7? You guessed it: Sage.
Bard went 1-1 on Saturday, losing, 3-2, to Mount St. Vincent and sweeping SUNY Purchase, 3-0. Bard is 6-1 in the Skyline Conference, including a 3-2 win over Sage last month.
Sage went 2-0 on Saturday to improve to 4-1 in the conference, with big matches upcoming against Bard and Mount St. Vincent.
It was a surprising turn of events for Bard, which had a chance to take a major step toward being the top seed and hosting the Skyline Championships on Mar. 27. But Mount St. Vincent's victory - 18-25, 27-25, 26-28, 26-24 and 15-11 - and then its loss to Sage have really turned the whole playoff picture cloudy.
Against the Dolphins, Bard (15-10 overall) got 24 kills from junior
Nick Chan (Victor, N.Y.) - the same amount he had against Mount St. Vincent earlier in the week. Chan hit .333 and added 11 digs. Freshman setter
Henry Kasiske (Los Angeles, Calif.) had 53 assists (.461) and seven digs, senior Eli Strauss (Queens, N.Y.) had 13 kills and hit .522, and junior libero
Andrew Cortrite (Los Angeles, Calif.) had 15 digs.
Against SUNY Purchase, Chan had five kills and eight assists, freshman
Alex Sicurella (San Francisco, Calif.) had eight assists, and senior Max Howard (Lafayette, Calif.) had seven aces and 10 digs. The set scores were 25-8, 25-11 and 25-13.
Bard will host Sage on Tuesday at 7. The Raptors swept Sage, 3-0, in the SUNYIT Tournament early in the season, but had to battle to edge Sage, 3-2, back on Feb. 9.
