LEWISBURG, Pa. – The Fairleigh Dickinson women's volleyball team fell to Bucknell 3-0 in the season opener.
 
It was a hard-fought match by the Knights, but the Bucknell Bison proved to be too much. Bucknell jumped out to early leads in all three sets to and eventually won by scores of 25-20, 25-17 and 25-22.
 
In the first set, the Bison got on the board first, but the Knights were not far behind. Fairleigh Dickinson eventually took a 12-10 lead on an Annabel Reyes (Teaneck, N.J./Immaculate Heart Academy) block midway through the set, but Bucknell fought back and scored four straight points.  The Bison closed out the set with three points in a row.
 
The second set started off fairly even before Bucknell pulled away in the latter half. The Knights brought the score within one point, 15-14, before the Bison started to pull away and went on a 10-3 run take the set.
 
The third set proved to be the closest for the Knights, losing by just three points. The Knights benefitted from an attack error to tie the set at 4-4 before Bucknell went on a 13-5 run to take its biggest lead of the set, 17-9. Fairleigh Dickinson chipped away at the Bison lead to bring the set within two, 24-22, before Bucknell's Hailey Stout ended the match on a kill.
 
Sophomore Rebecca Sabol (Dublin, Ohio/Dublin Coffman) led the Knights with six kills and senior Caroline Laton (Kinnelon, N.J./Kinnelon) had five blocks. Stout had a game-high 10 kills for the Bison.
 
The Knights return to action tomorrow for a double-header. They face East Carolina at 10 a.m. before completing the tournament with a match against Canisius at 3 p.m.