JOLIET, Ill. --- A return home for the first time in three weeks did not provide the boost the University of St. Francis women's volleyball team was seeking as the Fighting Saints dropped a 25-21, 25-16, 25-23 Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference decision to St. Ambrose University on Thursday night at the Sullivan Center.
The first set included 11 ties and nine lead changes with the Saints (17-15, 8-4 CCAC) gaining their biggest advantage at 16-13. St. Ambrose went on a 9-1 run after that to flip the score into a 22-17 lead for the Fighting Bees en route to wrapping up the set victory.
St. Ambrose (17-7, 9-2) never trailed in Set 2, opening with a 9-4 lead. St. Francis got within two points five times after that before SAU rattled off six points in a row on its way to the 2-0 lead.
Set 3 was another see-saw affair with four lead changes and eight ties with the last tie coming at 18-all. That is when St. Ambrose took command again with a 5-0 burst to go up 23-18. Not going down easily, the Saints followed with the next four points but could only get as close as 23-22 and 24-23 before succumbing.
Desiree Anderson led USF in a pair of categories. She totaled eight kills and 14 digs.Â
Hannah Pacheco paced the attack in assists (14), while
Cadence Wodrich did so in blocks (four).
Other contributors included
Stephanie Woods with seven kills and
Hannah Monfre with 10 digs.
Notes:Â The Saints donned their new pink jerseys for the first time on Thursday in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month ... Thursday's match was the start of a stretch of four home dates among the final five regular-season contests for head coach
Cara Currier's team … The Saints were coming off a string of 11 straight matches on the road … Prior to Thursday, USF's last home match was on Sept. 29 … The team's five-game skid is its longest of the year … The Saints are back home Tuesday to face Olivet Nazarene University at 7 pm.
Links to live coverage can be found at gofightingsaints.com/coverage. You can also keep up with everything happening around USF Athletics on Twitter @USFSaints.
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