Freshman Abby Huffman led the Siena Saints on offense Friday night, as her eight kills and .636 hitting percentage was a bright spot in the team's 3-0 (25-23, 25-16, 25-19) loss to Dartmouth in the opening match at the Dartmouth Invitational.

Huffman's offense topped all Saints (0-7), while sophomore Dakota Jackson put up five kills and 10 digs. Sophomore Jess Eblin tossed out 18 assists while senior Antonija Ivanovic also chalked up 10 digs. For Dartmouth (1-3), Francesco Meldrum put up a match-high 10 kills and three blocks while hitting .444. Nicole Liddle and Tola Akinwumi each added eight kills while Zoe Leonard snagged a match-high 18 digs.

"This was a tougher loss for us because I felt we were a much better team than we showed," said head coach Vilis Ozols. "The team is evolving and growing into all of our new systems, but tonight our execution lagged and it showed in the results."

The first set would be as close as the Saints would get, as they went toe-to-toe with Dartmouth after trailing early. Down 17-9, Siena would rally to come within two points at 22-20. After a Dartmouth timeout, things moved to 24-23 in favor of the Big Green after a Brooke Rogers kill bringing the Saints within one. But a service error from Siena would give Dartmouth the first set win on the next serve.

The Big Green didn't look back from there, as the second set belonged to Dartmouth from the early 4-0 lead. They wouldn't allow the Saints within four, ultimately pulling away for the 25-16 set win to go up 2-0 in the match.

Siena battled back in the third set, staying with the Big Green through a 15-15 tie score. However, Dartmouth was able to pull off a late 4-0 run to get some cushion with a 19-15 lead. That would prove enough, as Dartmouth would capitalize on some Siena errors to pull away with the 25-19 win.

The Saints will return to the court tomorrow for day two of the Dartmouth Invitational, when they square off against Boston College at 10 a.m. and Lafayette at 4 p.m.