LATROBE, Pa. - Visiting Washington & Jefferson defeated the Saint Vincent women's volleyball team 3-1 in Presidents' Athletic Conference action in the Robert S. Carey. Center.

The Presidents won a pair of lengthy sets at 27-25 and 26-24, before the Bearcats cut the lead in half with a 25-17 win in the third set. W&J, however, closed it out by taking the fourth set 25-23.

Carly Augustine picked up her second triple-double of the season in the loss, totaling 11 kills, 18 assists and 25 digs. Luciana Polk and Sara Ellis each added double-doubles, with the former posting 11 kills and 17 digs and the latter 14 assists and 15 digs. Lindsey Kocjancic and Caitlyn Figuly each had two blocks, while Polk served five aces to lead both sides. As a team, Saint Vincent totaled nine service aces on the evening, 

The Bearcats were hamstrung on the evening by 24 attack errors and eight service errors. 

The first set of the evening was a back-and-forth battle throughout, as the two teams combined for 12 ties and seven lead changes. The squads traded the lead through the first 10 serves, until W&J rattled off a 4-1 run to take an 11-7 advantage. The Bearcats would rally in a big way, with three straight aces from Polk and a kill by Becca Miller pushing the hosts in front 16-13. W&J came back to tie it at 17, and the teams would wrestle the lead back-and-forth over the next several rallies until W&J jumped ahead 23-21. Saint Vincent again countered, tying the match at 23 on a block from Augustine before pulling Polk's fourth ace of the set brought the Bearcats to game point. They were unable to close it out, though, with W&J rattling off four of the final five points to close out the long set with a 27-25 win.

Set number two followed the same theme as the opener, again with seven lead changes and 14 ties. Kills from Kaelyn Staples and Kocjancic pushed SVC out to an early 3-0 lead, but W&J countered, forging ties at 5-5, 6-6, 7-7 and 8-8. A kill by Miller and a Kocjancic/Augustine tandem block would push SVC in front 11-8, and the lead would eventually stretch to 16-12 after a service ace from Nicolena Yanosick. Again, the Presidents came back, eventually taking a 19-17 lead. Kills from Polk and Augustine tied it at 19, and the teams would go point-for-point until another Miller kill again brought the Bearcats to match point at 24-23. Like in the opener, however, the Presidents prevented the Bearcats from closing it out, scoring the final three points to claim the 26-24 win.

In the third set, the Bearcats jumped out in front 7-4 and never relinquished the lead. The Presidents twice tied it, at 13-13 and 14-14, but a kill from Polk kickstarted a 6-0 run to give SVC a 20-14 lead. An Augustine ace then closed out the set win, 25-17.

Saint Vincent jumped out to leads of 4-0 and 11-7 to open the fourth set, only to see W&J again come back to eventually pull even at 13-13 before gaining a 19-16 lead. The Bearcats clawed back, with kills from Polk and Figuly pulling them to within 19-18, before tying it at 20-all on an Augustine spike followed by a President error. After two more W&J errors, another Augustine kill gave the Bearcats a 23-22 lead, but the Presidents scored the final three points to earn the set and match victory.

The Bearcats will be back in action at home on Saturday, Sept. 25, hosting a PAC tri-match. Saint Vincent faces off against Chatham at noon in the Carey Center, before the Bearcats close out the afternoon with a 4 p.m. bout with Geneva.