BRONXVILLE, N.Y. - The Sarah Lawrence women's volleyball team took down the Mount Saint Mary College Knights in straight sets on Saturday, November 1st, after honoring four outstanding seniors before the match. The win clinched the team's third consecutive postseason appearance as well.

Notable Performers

• Nikolet Vataj led all players with 14 kills, adding in 11 digs
• Sophia Costa registered 26 assists and a trio of aces
• Athena Kazos put up seven kills and 11 digs in the win

How it Happened

The Gryphons jumped ahead to a 6-0 lead in the first set, capitalizing on a pair of MSMC errors while also getting a strong serving stretch from senior Raegan Lacombe. The team remained in control thanks to kills from Kazos, Vataj and Carolyn Kelly before an Eva Anderson ace gave the team a 13-4 advantage. The Knights responded with a brief 3-0 run, but kills from Vataj and Eve Iceton paired with one of Costa's three aces put the hosts up 17-8 with a first-set win on the horizon. A 6-2 run by the visitors closed the gap, but an immediate response by the Gryphons to go up 22-14 seemed to stop the bleeding. The Knights, however, were not done. The next eight points went the way of the visitors, tying the set at 22 points apiece and erasing the once-dominant SLC lead. Vataj stepped up to stop the run, but an immediate SLC error tied the set up again at 23. Costa then found fellow first-year Olivia Richard for a kill to reach set point before setting Vataj in the next rally to secure the win.

The second set saw a very similar start, with the first three points going to the Gryphons thanks to another Richard kill and a Costa ace. The Knights would battle back early this time, taking a 6-5 lead after a series of errors by the hosts. Luckily, the service game favored the hosts in the second set, as a service error by the Knights and a pair of Kazos aces returned the lead to the hosts. A five-point swing during a service run by Anderson helped the cause, with Richard acting as the main catalyst by posting three kills. Another three-point swing a moment later would put the team up 17-9 after another kill by Iceton, putting the team in a similar spot to the first set. This time, the Knights would be unable to string together a run, with the lead reducing to 19-15 before five straight SLC points thanks to four MSMC errors gave the hosts set point. Another error would give the Gryphons a two-set lead in the match, this time by a much more decisive 25-16 scoreline.

The third and final set of the day started off much more evenly than the first two. Ties at 1-1, 2-2, 4-4 and 5-5 would foreshadow a close contest to round out the day. The Gryphons used a Vataj kill and a Costa/Richard block to go up 7-5, but the teams would once again deadlock after tying at eight, nine, ten and eleven points apiece. The stalemate remained throughout the set, with a draw at 21 points apiece being broken up by a Vataj kill but a response from MSMC knotted it right back up at 22. Shades of the team's 36-34 thriller of a set against St. Joseph' Brooklyn were in the air, but the Gryphons used three consecutive errors by the visitors to take the final set 25-22 and claim a three-set win heading into the final week of the season.

Up Next

The Gryphons (12-11, Skyline 7-3) will return to action on Wednesday, November 5th, for their final Skyline regular-season contest of 2025. The Gryphons will host the conference-leading Valiants of Manhattanville for a 6:00 p.m. showdown before wrapping up their regular season with a road tri-match at Kean University on Saturday, November 8th. The first round of the Skyline Women's Volleyball Tournament will be on Tuesday, November 11th.