The Bard College women's volleyball team (4-13) won over the SUNY Delhi Broncos (5-16), giving them their first road win of the season.
In the first set,
Coral Cook and
Annika Flittie helped the Raptors extend their lead to six at 20-14. Cook's serving and key digs were instrumental in the first set win, as well as Flittie's dominant presence as a pin with three kills. On the Raptors' set point, Flittie dug up an attack from Katelyn Babcock,
Becca Wintjen sent a pass to Cook, and the Raptors' points leader hammered down a powerful attack.
Flittie went on to hit eight kills in the match after hitting three in the first set.
The Raptors jumped out to a 7-1 lead in the second, but the Broncos won four out of the next five points to regain their footing. With Bard leading 15-12, Cook ripped an attack from the center of the net to the back right corner of the Broncos' court, sparking a run of five straight points.
Carmen Merrick had one of her four blocks in this run, Cook had an ace, and Flittie had yet another kill. The Raptors won this set by ten, finishing with nine kills to just one error. Their hitting percentage skyrocketed from .129 in the first set to .320 in the second.
The Raptors used a balanced attack to take a 20-11 lead in the third set. Cook, Flittie,
Xenia Vassou,
Ella Small, and
LaeAnna Riley took turns hitting attacks and notching kills. Cook and Small each had four digs throughout this time period.
Paola De La Cruz entered for Wintjen in the set, but not before Wintjen contributed three digs to give the Raptors a boost. The Broncos raced back to within two at 21-19, but Bard stepped up to the plate and won four of the last five points of the
match to complete the sweep, 25-20. Cook sealed it with a kill that caught the back left corner on the Broncos' side.
Bard had six blocks to Delhi's one and 27 kills to Delhi's 23. Seven Raptors recorded kills, led by Flittie with eight. Flittie had just two errors on 23 attacks, her lowest ratio of the season.
Wintjen had 18 assists and seven digs. Small reached 11 digs. She has recorded double-digit dig totals in seven of her last eight games. Vassou finished with a hitting percentage of .625, keeping her error total at zero. She added three blocks, finishing just behind Merrick, who had four for the fourth time this season.
Next up for the Raptors is their first road test in the Liberty League at RIT on Friday at 7 p.m.