BIDDEFORD, Maine (10/26/24) - The Nichols College women's volleyball team faltered in a tough 3-1 (25-21, 17-25, 13-25, 13-25) loss at the University of New England in conference action Saturday afternoon inside the Harold Alfond Forum.

The Bison continue their hunt for their first in-conference win, as they fall to 4-18 (0-6 CNE) overall with the weekend setback. The Nor'easters improve to 16-5 (3-3 CNE) with the win.

Junior Kya Burdier pitched in on all fronts for the Bison, compiling a stat line of seven kills, nine assists and seven digs. Senior Luna Colozzo also collected seven kills in the effort, while classmate Ruby St. Onge added a team-high 11 assists with three service aces, and seven digs. Graduate student Liz Diorio was the defensive leader, totaling eight digs.  

In the first set, Nichols raced out to a 6-2 lead behind kills from four separate players. Past the midway point of the frame, the Nor'easters fought back to trail the Bison by just two points at 15-13, before committing five consecutive attack errors to boost Nichols' lead to 20-13. Despite several other UNE responses, the Bison would manage to hang on for a 25-21 win to start the day.
 
However, things would become an uphill climb for the Bison the rest of the afternoon. A 9-0 Nor'easter run saw the Bison trailing UNE 12-3 early on in the second, but Nichols later battled back to reduce the deficit to just three points at 14-17. Despite this, the Bison then surrendered another UNE run, this time at 7-0, to bring the action to set point, 24-14. UNE then claimed the set 25-17, tying the match at one apiece.  

The Nor'easters controlled the final two sets on Saturday, defeating the Bison by 25-13 scores in each.  

Women's volleyball welcomes another conference opponent to the Nichols Athletic Center on Saturday, November 2^nd with a 1:00 PM matchup against Wentworth Institute of Technology (14-9, 4-1 CNE).