LEWISBURG, Pa. – The Fairleigh Dickinson volleyball team dropped a pair of road contests to close out this weekend's tournament at Bucknell.
 
The Knights struggled in the first match of the day against East Carolina, falling by scores of 25-9, 25-12 and 25-16.
 
The Pirates scored the first eight points of the first set before Fairleigh Dickinson finally got on the board with three straight points. East Carolina continued to dominate the set, never letting the Knights come within 10 points. Following an Annabel Reyes (Teaneck, N.J./Immaculate Heart Academy) kill, the Knights were still trailing 16-6 but the Pirates would go on to outscore Fairleigh Dickinson 9-3 to close out the first set.
 
The second set was more evenly matched to start. The Knights kept the score close and tied it several times, the last time being at 8-8. The Pirates added six straight points to leave the Knights trailing 16-9, but Fairleigh Dickinson responded with three points in a row to close the gap to 16-12. East Carolina answered with nine straight points to close out the second set.
 
In the third and final set, Fairleigh Dickinson got on the board first with a Rebecca Sabol (Dublin, Ohio/Dublin Coffman) kill. The Pirates tied the set on the next play and both teams went back-and-forth with points to tie again at 3-3. East Carolina started to pull away but the Knights closed the gap to just two points, making the score 11-9. That would be the closest the Knights could come for the rest of the set.
 
Annabel Reyes (Teaneck, N.J./Immaculate Heart Academy) led the Knights with five kills. Ashley McRae led the Pirates with 10 kills.
 
The Knights faced Canisius to close out the tournament. Despite close sets, the Knights fell to Golden Griffins 25-23, 25-19 and 25-17.
 
Freshman Erika Sullivan (Elk Grove, Calif./Pleasant Grove) started things off for the Knights with a kill to put them on the board and the Knights went on to score three more points to hold a 4-0 lead. Canisius started to slowly chip away and eventually tied the set at 10-10. The set was tied several times, the last being at 23-23. The Golden Griffins finally closed it out on a kill from Carly Shifflet.
 
In the second set against Canisius, the teams traded points and the game was tied at 6-6 before the Golden Griffins slowly started to build a lead. The score was again tied at 16-16 until Canisius went on to score six straight points to take a six point lead, the largest of the set. The Golden Griffins closed it out again on a kill from Carly Shifflet.
 
Like the first two sets, the third remained evenly matched and was tied several times. The Knights tied the match 7-7 on an Erika Sullivan (Elk Grove, Calif./Pleasant Grove) kill, but that would be the last time the Knights were very close. Canisius added six points in a row to take a 13-7 lead and despite the Knights best effort they could not come back. Another Carly Shifflet kill ended the set and the match.
 
Erika Sullivan (Elk Grove, Calif./Pleasant Grove) led the Knights with 12 kills and 17 digs, new career highs. Kirstin Trabert (Corona, Calif./Norco) had 28 assists and Carly O'Sullivan (Bogota, N.J./Bogota) had two aces for Fairleigh Dickinson.
 
The Knights are back in action next weekend at the Lafayette/Lehigh Tournament. Fairleigh Dickinson plays Lafayette on Friday, September 2 at 7 p.m. On Saturday, September 3, the Knights play Providence at 1 p.m. before facing Lehigh at 4 p.m.