Augy Silver recorded a service ace Saturday at Amherst. (File photo by Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College) 

AMHERST, Mass. -- The Bates volleyball team grabbed a couple early leads but Amherst was able to rally both times on their way to a 3-0 (25-14, 25-18, 25-14) sweep of the Bobcats Saturday afternoon. 

Senior captain Chandler McGrath (Seal Beach, Calif.) led Bates (4-9, 1-3 NESCAC) with eight kills and junior captain Jacqueline Forney (Bloomington, Ind.) paced the Bobcats with 20 assists. First-year Gabi Eustache (New York, N.Y.) finished with a team-high 13 digs and sophomore Lauren Brough (Killingworth, Conn.) finished with 10 digs of her own.

Kill percentage was the big difference in the match, with Amherst (9-3, 4-1 NESCAC) converting on 20.9 percent of their kill attempts compared to Bates converting on 2.6 percent of their kill attempts.

Bates jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the first set behind a service ace from Brough, a kill from McGrath and an Amherst attack error.

But Amherst proceeded to go on a 6-0 run to snag a 7-3 lead they did not relinquish. 

The closest Bates got in the remainder of the first set was to within one at 8-7 thanks to an Augy Silver '18 (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) service ace.

With the score 20-14 in favor of Amherst, the home team went on a 5-0 run to end the set.

In the second set, Bates grabbed an 8-5 lead on a kill by sophomore Claire Naughton (Darien, Conn.) but Amherst scored the next two points to pull within one.

The teams essentially traded points from there in a very closely contested set. The Bobcats led 17-16 after a McGrath kill but Amherst scored the next two points to take an 18-17 lead.

A McGrath kill evened the set at 18. Unfortunately for the Bobcats, Amherst proceeded to go on a 7-0 run to pull away and take the set.

The Bobcats briefly had a 2-1 lead in the third set following an Amherst attack error. However, Amherst went on a 7-0 run to grab an 8-2 edge.

After that, Bates did not get any closer than to within four points. An Amherst attack error cut their lead to 17-12 late but just like in the first two sets, a big run secured things for the hosts. A 7-0 run extended their lead to 24-12 and they ended up taking the set 25-14.

The volleyball team returns home Friday when they host Wesleyan at 7:00 p.m. at Alumni Gym.