BOSTON, Mass. (10/19/24) – In their third tri-match of the season, the Nichols College women's volleyball program found itself on the short end of a pair of non-conference losses Saturday afternoon, falling to both host Emerson College (11-25, 7-25, 12-25) and fellow visitor Coast Guard (11-25, 16-25, 23-25), 3-0 inside Bobbi Brown and Steven Plofker Gymnasium.

Nichols' record falls to 4-16 (0-4 CNE) on the season with the dual losses.

Match #1 vs United States Coast Guard Academy (15-7, 4-3 NEWMAC)

Senior Luna Colozzo led the Bison with 15 kills and a .047 attack percentage, while also contributing nine digs defensively in Nichols' opening match of the afternoon. Graduate libero Liz Diorio led the back row with 11 digs, and senior setter Ruby St. Onge dished out 10 assists.

The Bison struggled to get a word in through the opening set against the Bears, resulting in a lopsided 25-11 loss to start the day. In the second set, things didn't overly improve for Nichols, as Coast Guard cruised out to a 9-2 lead. After some back-and-forth between the two squads, Nichols managed to get within eight points on back-to-back Coast Guard errors, before the Bears  scored the final two points to win the set, 25-16, increasing their match lead to 2-0.

The Bison eventually found their offensive groove in the third frame, climbing in front 7-3 behind kills from Colozzo, St. Onge and sophomore Melina Bezati. After Coast Guard battled back to pull within one, Nichols charged forward a second time with a 5-0 run including two Cassie Durocher service aces, eventually doubling up the Bears by an 16-8 margin.  Despite the improved offensive effort, the Bison defense fell victim to a dominant Coast Guard response which saw them score 11 points on 12 rallies, flipping the lead back in their favor, 22-20. As a result, the Bears went on to narrowly complete the sweep with a 25-23 win in the final frame.

Match #2 vs Emerson College (10-12, 2-5 NEWMAC)

In the second match of the day, graduate Haylee Granato led the offense with five kills and three block assists. St. Onge was once again the assists leader, this time with seven, while Colozzo paced the defense with seven digs.

Nichols snagged the first pair of points in the opening set against the Lions before falling behind 9-6 midway through. From there, the floodgates opened with Emerson outscoring the Bison by a 12-3 margin, which increased the Lions' lead to 21-9 late. Emerson went on to win the frame, 25-11.

The Lions went up 6-0 to begin the second frame with three points coming from Bison errors. Not long after, Emerson surged forward with a 9-0 sequence that put the score well out of reach at 18-3, which was their largest lead of the contest. Overwhelmed defensively, the Bison struggled to get their offense working the rest of the way, with Emerson winning 25-7 in set two.

Despite the two teams trading the first handful of points, Emerson quickly gained control of the third with a 7-0 run midway through, resulting in a 25-12 set win for the sweep.

The Bison come back home to host conference opponent Western New England University (16-4, 2-2 CNE) on Wednesday, October 23^rd  at the Nichols Athletic Center. It will be the program's cancer awareness "Pink Out" match, beginning at 7:00 PM.