UTICA, N.Y. – Southern Vermont College fell 3-0 at Utica College Tuesday evening in non-conference women's volleyball action at Clark Gymnasium.

The hosting Pioneers took the match with set scores of 25-16, 25-14, and 25-21.

SVC (2-6) and Utica will meet up once again in Southern Vermont's next match, a 7 p.m. showdown at SUNY Plattsburgh on Friday during the weekend's Best Western Plus-Ground Round Cardinal Classic.

Southern Vermont senior captain Brin Goldman (St. Croix, Virgin Islands) led her team with seven kills, nine digs and three service aces in the effort. Bennington College freshman Gaby Oropeza (Riverside, Calif.) followed with eight digs on the defensive end, adding three assists and a kill on the offensive side on the net.

Sophomore Lizzy Bench (St. Petersburg, Fla.) landed two kills while adding four digs for the Mountaineers, and freshman Sarah Billow (South Glens Falls, N.Y.) registered a pair of kills, three digs and two aces behind the line. Sophomore setter Michelle Urkevich (Troy, N.Y.) notched eight assists and three digs on the night.

The first set was tightly-contested in the onset until Utica took to a 6-0 run that put the hosts ahead comfortably. SVC would climb back within two with Goldman landing a kill and then a subsequent ace, but the Pioneers would maintain their cushion and push it back to a six-point advantage. Utica then rallied for another six unanswered points to put the frame out of reach for Southern Vermont.

Pioneer mishaps put the Mountaineers up 3-0 in the early-going of the second, only to see Utica come back and go ahead by one. Billow landed a kill for the first of six unanswered SVC points, adding a pair of consecutive service aces in that spurt to help put her team up by five. The hosts fought back once again, however, to take an 11-10 advantage. Points were swapped before Utica opened it up with a 6-0 stretch that forced a Mountaineer timeout. The stoppage would not slow down the Pioneers as they closed it out for the 2-0 match lead with six of the seven final points.

Utica ran out to a 4-0 upper hand to open up the third game, but SVC stayed in it with four of the next six; Urkevich and Goldman each had a kill in that spurt for Southern Vermont. A kill from Oropeza made it an 8-7 Utica edge, and another by Bench kept SVC within one. After Goldman tied it at 11-11 with a kill of her own, the Pioneers went on a 6-2 spurt to pull in front.

The Mountaineers inched within two on the help of a Goldman ace, but Utica then opened it up to a 22-17 lead as the hosts moved closer to the night's victory. Three-straight Pioneer attacking errors kept Southern Vermont in it, however, and an ensuing Utica service error made it just a 23-21 lead for UC. But the Mountaineers would be unable to take advantage as two SVC miscues then gave the Pioneers the necessary tallies to finish it off.

– #LetsGoSVC –