Bard College Athletics

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y — The Bard College women's volleyball team split its two matches of their home tri-match on Saturday against Sarah Lawrence 0-3 and MCLA 3-1.

Paola De La Cruz was all over the court, with 37 assists, 16 digs, seven kills, three aces, and three blocks. Isis Pribble led the team in total kills, with 15, adding 12 digs. Penelope Joosten Lingo was a key contributor in assists and aces, with six each, and digs, with a team-high 19. Ninni Ylenius was a backstop with nine digs, adding two aces, a kill, and an assist. 

Xenia Vassou collected 14 kills, five aces, two blocks, and three digs. Ava Rhinehart tallied 14 digs, three aces, two kills, and an assist. Gia Gomez had six kills, three blocks, and a dig. Nala Roman picked up five kills, five digs, and an ace. Alex Beer totalled eight kills, while Kylah Demers chipped in a kill and a dig against Sarah Lawrence.

Bard will travel to SUNY Delhi on Wednesday at 6 p.m.

Bard 0, Sarah Lawrence 3

Vassou had a strong first set with four kills to no errors, and De La Cruz rallied nine assists, an ace, and three digs, but Sarah Lawrence took it by six points. The Gryphons had a 5-1 start. Bard brought it to a one-point game with a 12-9 stretch that made it 14-13. Sarah Lawrence responded with four straight to force a Raptor timeout. Again Bard got close at 20-18 but the Gryphons won five of the final six points.

Bard gained a 4-2 lead to start the second frame, but Sarah Lawrence immediately took control with an 11-1 run to make it 13-5. A kill from De La Cruz stopped the bleeding, but Sarah Lawrence continued to prevent Bard from winning back-to-back points until 24-10, when the Raptors saved two set points before going down 0-2. Bard was only behind in the kill category by one, 7-8.

Both teams raised their attacking efficiency from the second to the third set, but it was Sarah Lawrence who took the larger leap to a .406 hitting percentage. At 6-3 Sarah Lawrence, Bard went on a 6-2 run to take a 9-8 lead. However, Sarah Lawrence won seven of the next eight points and followed it up with a 5-1 run to take a commanding 20-12 lead. Bard got three straight points, but it was too little too late as the Gryphons took the final set by nine.

Bard 3, MCLA 1

MCLA threatened early with a 6-1 start. Joosten Lingo hit three aces during a 6-0 run to put Bard ahead 7-6. MCLA took a four point lead at 14-10 when the Raptors won the next five to force a Trailblazer timeout. Bard continued to roll with back-to-back kills from Pribble to make it 17-14. To finalize the set, at 18-16, a 7-2 Raptor surge took them over the edge. 

Set two swung both ways, as there were four lead changes up until 15-14 MCLA. Then, it was all Bard, as four consecutive points went to the Raptors, and MCLA did not string together more than two in a row during the final stretch. Bard out-hit MCLA 12-6 in kills. 

The Raptors looked to make a statement early in the final set, as they went ahead 5-2. The Trailblazers had an 8-2 run in response to make it 10-7. Four straight from Bard, including two aces from Vassou, caused another lead change at 11-10. The next run came from MCLA – an 8-4 surge made it 18-15. Bard regained the momentum with a 9-1 run with four points via aces, three of which were by Rhinehart. MCLA saved three match points to make it 22-24 before Bard completed the sweep.