PHILADELPHIA- The La Salle volleyball team dropped a pair of matches to open the Colgate Invitational on Friday. The Explorers first met with Stony Brook and were overcome in a 3-1 outcome. La Salle then battled in a five set loss with Cornell to end the day.

Against Stony Brook, the Explorers took a 1-0 advantage to open the match, but were overcome as the Sea Wolves stormed through the next three. In the lopsided 3-1 final, Stony Brook edged La Salle in four tight sets of (25-21, 23-25, 13-25,20-25).

Stony Brook used a strong defensive front of 18 total blocks to stall the Explorers in the loss.

In the first match of the day, the Explorers posted a balanced attack with Samantha Graver leading the way. The A-10 Rookie of the Week tallied her seventh double-double of the season with 17 kills and 14 digs.

Devin Corah contributed 14 kills, while Maya Barton added eight as La Salle posted 46 total against Stony Brook's 47. Corah and Barton proved to be defensive threats as well, both posting three total blocks on the day, but it was not enough as La Salle was dismantled by the Sea Wolves.

In the clash with Cornell, the Explorers posted a hard fought 3-2 loss as three of the five sets against the Big Red went into extended points. Cornell was able to ultimately overcome the Explorers with set scores of (26-28, 25-14, 26-28, 28-26, 9-15).

The Explorers posted 69 kills against Cornell's 64, but were again thwarted by defensive efforts from the Big Red. Cornell posted 12 blocks against La Salle's six to overthrow the Explorers in their second match of the day.

Three Explorers racked up double-digit kills, with Graver again leading the way with 17, while Corah posted 14. Madison Kuch stepped up with 13 kills to help La Salle.

Corah and Graver both posted double-double performances in the five set heartbreaker as Corah recorded 14 digs and Graver added 16.

Barton added three blocks to total six on the day, while freshman Reilly Lowe posted three blocks to total five across two matches.

Setter Kathryn Wood contributed 87 assists across nine sets and added 20 digs for the Blue and Gold. Jensen Sharrits posted 46 digs to lead La Salle in the first two matches while contributing three aces.

La Salle will be back in action tomorrow morning at 11:00 a.m. against Colgate in their final match of the weekend.