The Bard College men's volleyball team fell to #12 Nichols before dropping a close one to Elms on Saturday afternoon. 

NEVC foe Nichols topped Bard 25-18, 25-15, 25-12 in the first match of the day and showed off their conference-leading offensive prowess, notching a .409 hitting percentage against the Raptors. The first set was neck and neck and Bard held a 12 to 10 advantage before the Bison went on a run, scoring 9 of the next 11 points to take control of the game. 

Nichols carried their momentum into the second set and tallied seven points before Bard responded with a big kill from graduate student Angel Obergh to get the Raptors on the board. Bard made a push late in the set and tried to capitalize on a string of Nichols errors but they weren't able to overcome the early deficit. 

First year Lincoln Grisso made himself known in the third set, notching three of his five kills in that frame but the Bison closed out the set and the match with some offensive production of their own.

In the third matchup of the season between Bard and Elms, the Blazers came away with a 3-0 victory but all three sets were decided by 3 points or less, the final score going the way of Elms 25-23, 25-22, 28-26. Senior Azriel Almodovar was a force at the net, scoring a season high seven kills to go with two digs and a service ace.

Bard was incredibly steady in the first set and six different Raptors put away kills by the time the score was knotted at 23-23. Elms capped things off with back to back kills to earn the first set victory and, although Bard was able to stay close, Elms established an early lead in the second set and never gave it up, earning the 2 sets to 1 advantage. 

The third set was again neck and neck as neither team allowed the other to string together more than three points in a row. Facing the prospect of defeat late in the game, Obergh thundered home a big kill to tie things up at 23-23 once again. The teams traded points back and forth with Bard scoring off the arms of first year hitters Grisso and Ben Davis before Elms closed out the match on back to back kills.

Obergh and Grisso led the offensive efforts finishing the day with 21 and 17 kills, respectively. Ben Davis led with 16 digs while sophomore Georgi Chikolov had a team-best 43 assists.

Bard will be back in action on Tuesday, March 19th as they travel to Drew for a 7:00pm start.