Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

SUNY-Cortland Invitational Website (Schedule/Results)

The women's volleyball team lost their first two matches of the season in the first day of the SUNY-Cortland Invitational in Cortland, New York.

In their opening match, they lost a competitive encounter in four sets to Nazareth College from the Empire 8 Conference.

Nazareth won the first set, 25-21, but the Bearcats fought back to tie by winning the second, 25-23. Nazareth edged the Bearcats in the third set, 25-23, and won the match by taking the fourth, 25-15, to record the season-opening victory.

Lauren Hayden led the Bearcats in the tough loss hitting .316 with 11 kills. Melinda Santiago dished out 25 assists, Rebecca Peralta had two service aces, and Nicole Lockwood recorded her intercollegiate debut with 12 digs.

In the second match, which ended close to the time of 11:15 pm, the Bearcats put up another strong effort, but fell to Skidmore from the Liberty League by the scores of 21-25, 26-24, 20-25, 20-25.

Hayden had a big match hitting .682 with 15 kills. Jessica Wu had 18 kills, while Peralta totaled 13 digs and five service aces. Santiago was busy dishing out 44 assists.

The Bearcats will have to deal with a quick turn-around as they return to action early Saturday at 10:00 am to battle the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford from the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference in the consolation bracket.

NOTES: The match against Skidmore was the last match to end on Friday, due to the fact the previous two matches on the same court lasted a long time...Nazareth and Skidmore were each picked to finish first in their respective conference in a preseason poll conducted by the coaches of their league...After Cortland, the Bearcats will return home to play their first match in the ARC Arena on Tuesday night at 7:00 pm against Western Connecticut State from the Little East Conference.