ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. - The Bard College men's volleyball team lost its season opener Friday afternoon, 3-0, to Wilson College. 

Set scores for the match were, 25-18, 26-24 and 25-21. 

The Raptors (0-1) and the Phoenix (1-1) traded points for much of the first set, until Wilson rallied off five straight points to take a commanding, 21-16 lead late in the opening frame. They sealed the first set, 25-18, on a service ace.

The second set of the match was the most thrilling, as it went right down to the wire.

Bard was unable to take the lead during the set, but was able to tie the score up on seven different occasions. The hosts just couldn't get over the hump to take the lead. 

For the first 15 points of the set, Wilson never lead by more than two points at a time. At 15-13, they scored the next two points to take a four point lead, 17-13.

Bard wasn't done though, the team rallied back twice from four point deficits, the second rally coming down, 22-18. Bard scored three straight to get the set to 22-21, before Wilson scored once again.

After trading points, Bard was down to its final point, trailing 24-22. The Raptors scored the next two points to tie it up at 24 all.

Wilson, sensing momentum was switching sides, quickly called timeout to settle down its players.

Following the stoppage, the visitors come out gunning. They took the final two points on empathic spikes from Nick Baxter (Denver, PA) to win the set. 

The final set was just like the first two, with each team again traded points. Bard once again rallied, down 21-18, by scoring three of the next for points to make it a one score game at 22-21.

But again, Wilson responded by scoring the next three points to steal the match.

On the day, Bard was outhit by Wilson, .046 to .196 and lost the errors battle too. 

Alex Adams led the Raptors with 10 kills in the match. Mahir Sheikh contributed 19 assists and Tyler Zowaski recorded 11 digs. 

The Phoenix were led by Baxter, who finished with a game-high 14 kills. Ian Firestone (York, PA) finished with 30 assists in the match and Evan Hoke (Chambersburg, PA) had 11 digs.

The men's volleyball team will be back in action, January 21st, as the Bard Raptors Invitational continues. Bard will face-off against Wilkes University at noon and Ramapo College at 2:00 p.m. You can follow those games right here via Live Stats and Live Video.