BRONXVILLE, N.Y. - The Sarah Lawrence men's volleyball team battled through heavily contested sets to claim a Skyline victory over Mount Saint Vincent on Saturday. The Gryphons took the first two sets before the Dolphins rallied for a set win of their own, temporarily delaying SLC's 3-1 victory.

Notable Performers

• Jack Cahill continued a tremendous first campaign with 15 kills to lead the Gryphons
• Mikel Miller added 11 kills and five total blocks in the victory
• Alex Xie totaled 28 assists along with eight digs
• Kairos Diaz led the team with 12 digs for the Gryphons

How it Happened

The first set was a marathon, as neither team was able to pull away. A kill by Miller started the match, with a score from Cahill moments later, but the Dolphins returned the game to a stalemate each time. The Gryphons benefited from a pair of early service errors from the visitors, as well as a Xie/Aidan Roney double block, but the Dolphins maintained a slight advantage by a score of 7-5. After consecutive UMSV hitting errors and an ace by Roney, the Gryphons took a lead of their own, 8-7. The teams would then tie at 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 points apiece before three straight UMSV scores put the visitors ahead 16-14. Cahill got the Gryphons back on track, and Miller added a pair of solo blocks, but the teams continued to go back-and-forth and the Dolphins sat in the driver's seat at 22-20. A UMSV service error and a solo block by Roney tied the set up at 22, but the teams would trade points until the Dolphins led 26-25. Xie set Cahill to tie the set before a Roney/Jackson Perhaes block gave SLC their first set point of the afternoon by a score of 27-26. Cahill returned to the scorer's column to seal the first-set victory, sealing the team's first-set win 28-26. 

The Dolphins rallied early in the second to take a 7-3 lead, but the Gryphons responded with four consecutive scores to tie the set at seven points apiece. Five scores in turn by the Dolphins returned the lead to the visitors, before a Roney kill ended the streak. The Gryphons worked to tie the set up again, taking two points for each UMSV score as a pair of Miller kills and a Xie/Roney block brought the hosts within a point of the lead. Three straight UMSV points in response erased the progress that SLC had made, putting the Dolphins up 19-15 and threatening to tie the match at one set apiece. Despite the deficit, the Gryphons would continue to battle. The hosts took the next sixth points on the back of kills from both Xie and Cahill, jumping ahead to a 21-19 lead and looking to open a two-set lead. The following three points would go to the Dolphins and return the lead to the visitors, before trading points to give UMSV a 24-23 advantage. After a service error tied the match at 24 points apiece, the Dolphins reached set point thanks to a Jose Dominguez kill. The Gryphons, determined to not let the visitors tie the match up, got a kill from Miller to once again event the set before a UMSV error flipped set point to the hosts. Cahill would once again be called upon to ice the set, this time taking a pass from Ethan Look and converting to put SLC up two sets to none.

A 5-1 lead to start the third gave the Gryphons a chance to sweep the match, but the Dolphins battled back to keep the match alive. A mid-set run by the Dolphins tied the set up at 14 points apiece before eight of nine to go up 22-16. Cahill and Look registered late kills while the ladder posted a huge solo block, but the lead would be too large and UMSV would take a 25-21 third-set victory. The Gryphons jumped ahead early in the fourth for the second straight set, taking a 6-1 lead on the back of a Jackson Perhaes ace. The Gryphons would stay ahead by a small margin throughout the set, getting timely scores from Cahill, Miller and Roney before the first-year pair of Cahill and Miller combined for a match-sealing double block to give the Gryphons a second Skyline win at the onset of the conference schedule.

Up Next

The Gryphons (8-8, Skyline 2-3) will return to action on Wednesday, March 11th as they head up the road to Purchase College for a 7:00 p.m. matchup. The team will then wrap up the week with a road match on Saturday, March 14th at St. Joseph's Brooklyn, looking to start off the season series against the Bears with a win at 1:00 p.m.