JOLIET, Ill. ---
Gabriela Oliveira's 28-kill day allowed the University of St. Francis women's volleyball team to gain a split of its final two matches at the USF Big Dogs Classic on Saturday. The Saints (5-4) closed out the weekend with a 26-24, 25-20, 25-20 win over Missouri Valley College (9-4) after initially dropping a 23-25, 25-18, 25-23, 25-14 decision to Aquinas College, Mich. (2-7).
Oliveira rang up a season-high 17 kills and a .316 attack percentage in the opener before collecting another 11 kills opposite Missouri Valley. The latter number helped the team to a .237 attack percentage.
Desiree Anderson also had a big first match with her 13 kills and 12 digs. She followed that up with a team-best 14 digs, eight kills and three service aces versus Missouri Valley.
Kaylie Sippel topped the assists chart in each end of the twinbill. Her 29 assists against Aquinas were a season high. Her (17 assists) and
Abby Lab (12) combined for that same total in the second match of the day.
Match 1: Aquinas def. USF 23-25, 25-18, 25-23, 25-14
The Saints opened with a 7-2 lead at the start only to relinquish it when Aquinas countered a short time later with a 9-2 run of its own. USF was able to regroup down the stretch, however, with Oliveira's two kills closing out the first-set victory.
St. Francis again led at the start of Set 2 (4-1), but lost that advantage with an 8-1 surge by Aquinas. This time, there was no comeback for head coach
Cara Currier's club as Aquinas ended the set with four straight points.
USF had 15-11 and 19-17 leads late in Set 3, but Aquinas rallied for eight of the final 12 points to go up 2-1 in the match. The guests then opened Set 4 with seven straight points and never looked back en route to the match victory.
Match 2: USF def. Missouri Valley 26-24, 25-20, 25-20
After dropping three matches in a row for the first time on the year, the Saints (5-4) opened their final match of the weekend with a 9-1 start.
Stephanie Woods' three kills in the burst fueled the start. Missouri Valley, however, would not go away, forcing ties at 18 with a five-point rally and at 23 with a four-point comeback. Another tie at 24 resulted before
Taylor Connolly and
Peyton Baird put the set on ice with back-to-back kills.
A trio of aces from Anderson gave the Saints a 14-7 lead in Set 2. They extended that to 17-9 later before Missouri Valley got the deficit down to 18-16. That, however, is as close as the Vikings would get in the set.
A similar scenario developed in Set 3 with USF opening up an 11-6 lead only to have that dwindle down to 20-19. Woods, Oliveira and Baird saved the day with their kills in a match-ending 5-1 run.
Notes: Oliveira's 17- and 11-kill matches marked her first back-to-back 10-plus kill contests … Anderson's double-double in the Aquinas match was her fifth of the season … Sippel's 29 assists marked her second 20-plus assist match of the campaign … Aquinas and the Saints settled for a season split after the former lost in the season opener last Friday … The Saints continue their season-high six-match homestand on Tuesday when they return to conference play hosting Calumet College of St. Joseph.
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