Reilly Murphy (left) had three solo blocks against Roger Williams on Sept. 10, 2016 at the MIT Invitational, while Lisa Slivken (right) posted eight kills with no attack errors against Redlands the same day. (File photo by Josh Kuckens/Bates College)

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- The Bates volleyball team came away from the season-opening MIT Invitational with a 1-3 record, after falling 3-0 to the University of Redlands on Saturday morning and 3-0 to Roger Williams University Saturday afternoon.

Bates senior Chandler McGrath (Seal Beach, Calif.) had a strong day against Redlands (6-1) with a team-high 11 kills against two attack errors, while junior Lisa Slivken (New York, N.Y.) posted eight kills with no attack errors for .615 attack percentage. 

Sophomore Claire Naughton (Darien, Conn.) had three solo blocks and seven kills and senior Nicole Peraica (East Northport, N.Y.) had six kills and two solo blocks. First-year Gabi Eustache (New York, N.Y.) posted a team-high 33 digs. Junior Jacqueline Forney (Bloomington, Ind.) and first-year Julia Panepinto (Buffalo, N.Y.) split setting duties with 22 and 18 assists apiece, respectively. Panepinto and Eustache notched three service aces apiece.

First-year Taylor Stafford-Smith (Calabasas, Calif.) led the Bobcats in the straight-games loss to Roger Williams (5-3), racking up 11 kills with errors for a .500 attack percentage, to go along with three solo blocks. Sophomore Reilly Murphy (Marshfield, Mass.) also had three solo blocks in the match.

McGrath added nine kills for Bates while Forney passed out 17 assists. Eustache and senior Hannah Tardie (Orange, Calif.) tied for the team lead with eight digs.

The Bobcats will next play a non-conference match at the University of Southern Maine Wednesday at 7pm.