FORT WAYNE, Ind. --- The University of St. Francis women's volleyball team earned its second split in as many days at the Indiana Institute of Technology Liz Lykowski Memorial Tournament on Saturday. USF (9-6) closed out the two-day event defeating Goshen College (Ind.) 25-15, 32-30, 25-17 and then falling to Concordia University (Mich.) 25-16, 25-15, 25-20.
Gabriela Oliveira led in the kill department for the second day in a row, totaling 15 kills. She and
Peyton Baird both put up nine kills in the first-match victory. Oliveira also had three service aces in the latter match.
Abby Lab and
Kaylie Sippel split the team lead in assists. Lab topped the charts in the first match with 19, while Sippel recorded 16 in the nightcap.
Defensively, the Saints gained five blocks from
Stephanie Woods and 25 digs from
Desiree Anderson over the two matches.
Match 1: USF def. Goshen (Ind.) 25-15, 32-30, 25-17
Trailing 13-12 at the midpoint of the first set, USF ran off 13 of the next 15 points to go up one set to none. Three kills from
Taylor Connolly, two more from Baird and both a kill and an ace from Anderson sparked the rally.
In Set 2, the Saints opened up a 10-4 lead early before a back-and-forth battle developed. Fourteen ties and five lead changes ensued before Woods and Anderson closed the set with back-to-back kills.
Set 3 also saw St. Francis build an early 9-3 advantage. Goshen (2-13) rallied to get to within 10-8 before the Saints went on an 8-1 run en route to the first-match victory.
Match 2: Concordia (Mich.) def. USF 25-16, 25-15, 25-20
In the closing match of the tournament, Concordia (4-7) went up early in two of the three sets to produce the win. The first set was tight early with the Saints trailing by only a 12-11 count. But 5-0 and 6-0 runs by Concordia put the Cardinals up 1-0.
Sets 2 and 3 saw Concordia open up 14-5 and 12-6 advantages. The closest USF would get in either set after that was 18-16 in the latter set as the Cardinals gained the three-set win.
Notes: Anderson was named to the all-tournament team courtesy of her 30 kills and 42 digs over the four matches … The first match of the day featured three season-best marks: Lab's 19 assists, Anderson's 18 digs and Baird's nine kills … The Saints stay on the road for two more matches next week, both of which are Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference affairs. The first one is Tuesday against Trinity Christian College with the latter one at Trinity International University on Thursday.
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