ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. — The Bard College women's volleyball team dropped a pair of matches on Saturday afternoon, falling in their conference opener against St. Lawrence, 3-0, and to Rutgers-Newark, 3-0, at Stevenson Athletic Center. 

Bard totaled 53 kills, 49 assists, and 14 aces on the day. Coral Cook and Annika Flittie led the Raptors; Cook tallied 20 kills on the day, 10 each game, and added 35 digs, while Flittie had 18 kills, including 11 kills against Rutgers-Newark; and 12 digs. Ella Small led the team in digs with 39, while Becca Wintjen racked up 39 assists. Xenia Vassou totaled a team-high seven blocks, while Carmen Merrick had four blocks. 

The Raptors will be on the road next week as they take on SUNY-Delhi on Wednesday at 7 p.m. 

St. Lawrence 3, Bard 0
The first set was a back-and-forth joust between the Saints and the Raptors as both teams tried to find their rhythm. SLUhad seven kills compared to Bard's four in the first set. In the second set, St. Lawrence took control of the game, taking a 6-1 early lead. The Raptors tried to get back into the set with kills coming from Cook and Carmen Merrick, and utilizing the service errors by the Saints. Bard saved four set points before dropping the second set 25-15. 

In the third set, Bard had a 4-1 lead, but SLU quickly tied the game up at 5-5. The rest of the set went back and forth until at 12-12, where the Saints won back-to-back points to take a two-point lead. Cook's kill at 19-20 took the Raptors a point away from tying the set, but the Saints finished the set with five straight unanswered points. 

Cook had her fourth double-double with 10 kills and 10 digs. Small led the team with 13 digs and added two aces. 

Rutgers-Newark 3, Bard 0
Bard and Rutgers-Newark were evenly matched, with the Scarlet Raiders just having a .110 to .059 hit advantage over the Raptors. In the first set, both teams went on runs, with Bard going on a 8-1 run at 9-12 to take a 17-13 lead. Rutgers-Newark crawled their way back into the game and tied it up at 23 a piece. An attack error from Bard and a kill by Angelyse Orellana gave the Scarlet Raiders the first-set win. 

In the second set, Rutgers-Newark took an 12-4 lead, but Bard came back and went on an 11-4 run to be a point away from RNU. With the game tied at 23-23, the Raptors committed an attacking error to give the Scarlet Raiders set point. Bella Foster finished the set with a kill. 

The third set saw nine tied scores and five lead changes. Bard took a commanding 10-2 lead, but Rutgers-Newark regrouped and went on a 9-2 run to be within one of Bard. Both teams went back and forth, late into the set, and Bard saved the first of the five match points with a kill from Cook. Bard did have three chances to close the set but Rutgers-Newark saved all of the set points. At 30-30, RNU's Tracey Ilderis finished the set off with back-to-back kills. 

Cook totaled a career-high 25 digs alongside her 10 kills and two aces. Small led the team with a career-high 26 digs. Flittie led the team with 11 kills and added three digs.