Somber is the way sophomore middle blocker Kelly Hansen described the mood Saturday night, following the volleyball team’s loss — the third of the weekend — in straight sets to Buffalo at the conclusion of the Cornell Invitational. It was a decidedly subdued head coach Sarah Bernson, dressed coincidentally all in black, who led her team into the debriefing room. Somber indeed.

Bernson said that while not pleased with the way the weekend turned out — “not the outcome we had intended,” she noted wryly — the team’s first homestand would serve as a “teachable moment” for the squad, still only in its first couple of weeks of competition.Air Pula: Freshman outside hitter Deveney Pula was named to the all-tournament team — the only representative from Cornell’s squad.

Cornell (2-7) started the tournament out with a 3-1 loss to Colgate (3-7) on Friday evening. The Red started out slow, allowing the Raiders to easily take the first two sets, 25-19 and 25-13, respectively.

“It was our first weekend at home and especially for the freshmen, this was a new experience,” Bernson said of why the Red seemed sluggish at the outset of the match. This was also the first time the team had to play a match after a day of classes, another possible explanation for the difference between the first two sets Friday and the stellar play of the weekend previous.

“We [didn’t] start the weekend at the level of play of last weekend,” Bernson said.

In the third set Cornell seemed to switch gears, however, and fought hard for a final 26-24 win — what was to be the Red’s first and last set win of the tournament — that seemed might just swing the momentum back in the home team’s favor. Unfortunately, Colgate refused to roll over and the two teams battled back and forth for points in the fourth set, with the Raiders eventually coming out on top, 25-22.

Continuing the trend of strong freshmen play, rookie outside hitter Deveney Pula led the attack for the Red with 15 kills. Pula was named to the Invite’s all-tournament team on Saturday. Classmate Jessica Misse had the best kill percentage for the team with .316, tallying seven kills on 19 attempts.

“Being able to put a bunch of freshmen on the court at the same time is a benefit for our program,” Hansen said. “We have a lot of depth.”

Bernson, too, said she was pleased with the amount of playing time and production from the freshmen in all three games.

“Because we have so many freshmen, to have them be impact players right off is huge,” she said.

Sophomore Jordan Reeder played in the center, collecting 29 assists and four kills, along with six digs. Senior co-captain Megan Mushovic earned a match-best 25 digs in the libero position.

The team didn’t have much time to worry about the loss, however, as they were back in Newman Arena Saturday morning for a match against St. John’s (6-9).

The Red Storm took the first set, 25-19 and then the next two easily as well, with twin scores of 25-20.

This time it was freshman Alice Cope who led the way for the Red, tallying 10 kills for a team-best hitting percentage of .364. As a team, Cornell hit for .118. Reeder added 26 assists and sophomore Erin McCarthy picked up 11 digs. Senior co-captain Juliana Rogers blocked six to lead the team.

Hansen said one bright spot for the team was its improvement in blocking, an important team skill that is hard to gauge in practice.

“As a team I think our blocking was united,” Hansen said. “We came together more in that aspect.”

A few hours later the team was back on the court again, this time for its last match of the Invite, against Buffalo (9-4).

A raucous crowd of over 100 cheered the Red on for this last contest, with an especially-spirited contingent taking the opponents to task for having a mascot “demolished during the westward expansion.”

Buffalo came into the match the mirror image of Cornell, with a 2-0 record.

In the first set the Red got off to a good start early, using a 7-2 scoring run to erase an early five-point deficit to knot the score at 13-13. The Bulls responded with a run of their own, which in turn was answered by the Red. The two fought back and forth until Buffalo got the upper hand down the stretch, scoring four points to the Red’s one to take the set. In the second set, an early lead by Cornell led into a 8-8 tie, which was broken decisively by Buffalo which went on a 14-2 tear, burying the Red for a final result of 25-11.

The final set was the Red’s best of the night, as the two teams traded points back and forth, chalking up 10 ties. However, the Bulls broke a 14-14 knot with a four-point run which the Red was unable to answer, maintaining the lead for the 25-21 win.

Communication was something that Bernson repeatedly touched upon as an area that the team could improve on overall.

“Our level of energy and emotion can certainly improve,” she said, stressing the importance of “court chatter” during rallies. Bernson said this type of on-court communication increases awareness and “keeps everybody on the same page.”

The team now has two days to prepare for its away match against Syracuse on Wednesday, so any soul searching will have to be done quickly.

“You can learn a lot more from a loss than a win,” Hansen said.

“We just have to figure out what it is that keeps us going every week,” Bernson said.