St. Lawrence Box

Clarkson Box

Poughkeepsie, N.Y.-- After losing a 3-1 (25-27, 25-21, 25-16, 25-20) match to St. Lawrence, Skidmore came back to upset top-seed Clarkson, 3-0 (28-26, 25-23, 25-21) in Day 1 of the Liberty League Volleyball Championship at Vassar.

In the first match, third-seed Saint Lawrence picked up a comeback victory over fourth-seed Skidmore. The Saints recovered from a first set loss to win the next three games. In the first set the Thoroughbreds went out in front with serves from Becca Ormsby, to take an 8-1 lead, but the Saints bounced right back to tie the set at 11. The set remained tight until the end. Down 24-25, Meredith Palmer made a key block for Skidmore to tie the set at 25-25. Following two errors from St. Lawrence, Skidmore was able to win the set 27-25.

Set two was just as close as the first, but this time the win went to the Saints. A three point lead was the largest by either team until the last points of the set with a 25-21 finish from St. Lawrence. The third set started evenly, but the Saints pulled away for the 25-16 win. In the final set, St. Lawrence trailed 10-7 early, but came back to take the lead, winning ten of the next 12 points on the way to the 25-20 win..

For the Thoroughbreds, Kelly Vershbow recorded 19 kills, followed by Palmer with 15. Ormsby racked up 42 assists, while defensively, Lauren Dinsdale led the way with 35 digs, followed by Carolyn Bottelier's 17.

Against Clarkson, the first set saw the Thoroughbreds down most of the way until a late 24-23 lead. The teams traded points at the end with Clarkson holding a 26-25 advantage. Skidmore responded with three kills, one each from junior Meredith Palmer, freshman Mallory Mendelsohn, and the set winner from sophomore Kelley Vershbow, which deflected off a Clarkson blocker.

In the second set, the Thoroughbreds started off hot, jumping to a 16-9 lead. The rest of the set saw streaks by both teams resulting in fluctuations of the score. Skidmore appeared to have made the decisive run, with four consecutive points putting the Thoroughbreds in front, 24-18, however, Clarkson answered with five of its own, pulling to within one, 24-23. This led to Skidmore's freshman hitter Carolyn Bottelier knocking home the set-winning kill, one of her team-high 10 in the match off of an assist from junior Becca Ormsby.

The final set saw eight lead changes, with no team holding an advantage of more than three points until the final. Skidmore took its final lead at 20-19, fighting back from a one-point deficit off of two Clarkson attacking errors. The Thoroughbreds closed out the match with a block from Bottelier, who also had 10 digs.

Skidmore closes out the tournament on Saturday with matches against Union and Vassar.