GREENVILLE, Pa. (Oct. 23) – The Saint Vincent women's volleyball team dropped a pair of matches in a tri-match hosted by Thiel College.

In the day's first action, the Bearcats were unable to complete a comeback and fell 3-2 to host Thiel, before SVC was defeated in straight sets in a non-conference bout with Capital University.

THIEL 3, SAINT VINCENT 2
In their first match of the day, the Bearcats dropped the first two sets by scores of 25-17 and 25-16. SVC would then extend the match with a 25-19 win in the third set, before forcing a decisive fifth set with a 25-17 win in the fourth. The comeback would fall short, however, with Thiel sealing the 3-2 win by taking the fifth set by a 15-10 score.

Jessica Hughes recorded a career-high 11 kills in the loss, sharing the team lead with Carly Augustine. Caitlyn Figuly added 9 kills and a match-high 7 blocks, while Vivian Poach added 8 kills and 5 digs.

Stacie Ramos led the SVC defense with 21 digs and was one of three Bearcats to reach double figures, joining Nicolena Yanosick, who totaled 13, and Olivia Persin, with 12. Persin added a team-best 21 assists for the double-double, while Sara Ellis chipped in 15 assists and two aces.

In the first two sets, the Tomcats led from the start, and the third set started in the same fashion, with the hosts jumping out to an 8-4 lead. Kills from Poach and Augustine began the Bearcat comeback, jump-starting a 5-1 run that would see the Bearcats tie it at 9-all. The teams traded points over the next several serves, before a pair of Thiel errors started a 5-2 Bearcat run, which included an ace from Ellis and a kill by Hughes, to push SVC out to a 16-13 lead. Thiel eventually cut it to three, at 21-18, but the Bearcats closed it out on a 4-1 run, with two kills by Hughes and one from Persin, to take the set 25-19 and pull to within 2-1 in the match.

The fourth set began in back-and-forth fashion, with Thiel eventually jumping ahead 9-7. It would be the Tomcats' last lead of the set, as the Bearcats charged back to take a 10-9 lead after a Yanosick ace and a Figuly kill. After spikes from Poach and Staples and an ace by Hughes, the Bearcat lead grew to 16-12, and they took control from there. Three errors from Thiel gave SVC its largest lead of the set, 22-14, before SVC closed out the 25-17 win with kills from Staples and Figuly.

Saint Vincent took an early 3-2 lead to open the decisive fifth set, only to see Thiel counter to jump ahead with four straight points. An ace from Hughes and a kill by Poach tied it at 7, before another Thiel error put SVC back in front, 8-7. Augustine's kill preserved the one-point lead at 10-9, but Thiel took charge to score the final six points to seal the 15-10 win.  

CAPITAL 3, SAINT VINCENT 0
The Bearcats struggled in their second match of the day, falling to the Capital Comets by scores of 25-13, 25-15 and 25-11.

Hughes again led SVC with five kills, while Augustine added four kills and tied Lindsey Kocjancic for the team lead with two blocks. Yanosick posted a team-best 8 digs, while Taylor Sheesley recorded a season-high six. Ramos totaled three of the Bearcats' four aces in the loss.

Saint Vincent will now prep for a busy final week of the 2021 season, which begins with a 7 p.m. PAC match at Chatham University on Tuesday, Oct. 26.