The Oswego State volleyball team traveled to Dallas, PA to face off against a handful of teams in the Misericordia tournament. The Lakers faced Centenary University and Alfred University on Sep. 28.
The Lakers’ first matchup of the day came against the Centenary Cyclones and the Lakers desperately needed a win, sitting at a 7-9 record.
The Cyclones picked up the first points of the game and plenty of them as they jumped to a 3-0 lead after errors from the Lakers. This did not faze the Lakers, as two kills from Priscilla McReynolds led the team back to a tie game, 4-4. Two additional kills and errors from the Cyclones side later and the Lakers were up 9-6. The Lakers kept their distance from the Cyclones in terms of scoring, as Oswego kept attacking to make it 14-9. However, the Cyclones began to climb their way back into the game, as they clawed to 14-13, which quickly became a 17-16 Lakers lead. The Lakers regrouped and with the help of two kills from Kalley Vugteveen, they pummeled the Cyclones with seven unanswered points. The Cyclones saved face and got a few scores in before the Lakers put the nail in the coffin, final score 25-19.
The Lakers turned it up to 11 in the second set,jumping to a 7-0 lead in a blink of an eye. The Cyclones got a couple of licks in, but kept beating themselves up with errors, giving the Lakers the opportunity to pour on the points, with the score jumping all the way to 20-6. A 5-3 point run by the Lakers followed, as Oswego dominated the Cyclones, 25-9.
The third set was a lot more even from both sides, with neither team allowing much of a lead in the early go-around. The Lakers snagged the first point off an error from the Cyclones, followed by two errors by Oswego’s side to give Centenary a 2-1 lead. How did the Lakers respond: with two points of their own, this back-and-forth action continued until the Cyclones had a 9-8 lead. You better have your sneakers on, because subsequently the Lakers pulled away and went on a 7-0 run to bring it to 15-9. However, the Lakers could not fully shut the door on the Cyclones, because before you knew it, they were only down by three points, the score at 21-18. An error from the Cyclones brought it to 22-18 before the Lakers gave up two points on errors of their own to bring it to 22-20. The mistakes from the Cyclones are what cost them this matchup, as two errors and a bad set followed, the Lakers won the third set by a score of 25-20.
The second game on the slate for the Lakers is against the Alfred Saxons, a 9-2 team from the Empire-8 conference.
The first set picked up right where the Lakers left off with the Cyclones, receiving a point off a service error from the Saxons. McReynolds was on fire early, earning three kills in a run that made the score 5-2. The Saxons quickly clawed back to a 5-5 score and the game continued as a back-and-forth contest, leading to a score of 14-13, Lakers lead. The Lakers picked up the momentum from there, winning the set 25-20.
The second set began differently, with the Saxons quickly jumping to a 3-0 lead before the Lakers fought their way back to a 3-3 tie. Errors and mistakes crushed the Saxons in this set, with ten of the Lakers’ points coming from Alfred’s mishaps. There was not much to note from this set otherwise, as the Lakers crushed the Saxons 25-15.
The third set was another show of dominance from the Lakers. Early in the match the Lakers had a five-point run to bring the score to 6-2. A short period of time later, the score was 10-8 before the Lakers went on a crushing 11-point run to bring it all the way to 21-8. The Lakers never looked back from there, winning 25-13.
The Lakers begin their in-conference play beginning on Oct. 4 as they face the first-place SUNY Cortland Red Dragons on the road.
Photo by: Oswego Athletics
