LA CROSSE, Wis. --- After playing Rocky Mountain College (Mont.) – among others receiving vote in the latest NAIA Coaches' Poll – tough in a three-set loss, the University of St. Francis women's volleyball team came back to score a five-set victory over Waldorf University (Iowa) at the Viterbo University (Wis.) V-Hawk Fall Classic on Friday night.  The Fighting Saints fell 25-21, 25-20, 25-20 in the first match before outlasting Waldorf 25-22, 17-25, 25-17, 19-25, 15-9.

Plenty of Saints contributed to the strong showings including Gabriela Oliveira (34 kills, 26 digs), Desiree Anderson (26 kills, 25 digs), Taylor Connolly (20 kills), Kaylie Sippel (75 assists, 15 digs) and Abby Sippel (55 digs).

Match 1: Rocky Mountain def. USF 25-21, 25-20, 25-20
Late runs eventually did the Saints in against Rocky Mountain.  USF opened up a 3-0 lead in Set 1 only to have Rocky Mountain (15-8) answer with nine of the next 11 points in building a 9-5 advantage.  The Saints would pull to within one point twice late before Rocky Mountain closed out the set with four of the final five points.

The second set was a back-and-forth affair early (11 ties, four lead changes) with St. Francis again within reach of evening out the match.  The Saints trailed 19-18 late only to have the Battlin' Bears account for six of the final eight points.

In Set 3, USF was the one battling back.  The Saints trailed 9-2 early before rallying to force a tie at 18.  Rocky Mountain, however, continued its late success, this time putting up seven of the final nine markers to score the match victory.

Connolly led USF with 10 kills, while Abby Sippel notched 20 digs for the first time.

Match 2: USF def. Waldorf 25-22, 17-25, 25-17, 19-25, 15-9
A pair of kills from Anderson and Oliveira as part of a 5-0 run early put USF up 9-6 in Set 1.  The latter eventually ended the see-saw affair with a kill and an ace.

In Set 2, Waldorf (10-8) answered USF's first two points with eight of its own and never looked back.

The Saints (7-15) responded quickly in Set 3 getting two kills each from Oliveira and Anderson and one more from Connolly to go up 7-3.  Another two kills from Oliveira in a 4-0 burst put the advantage at 15-8 en route to getting USF back out in front two-games-to-one.

Waldorf raced out to an early 8-1 lead in Set 4 only to have the Saints rally to get to within 12-10 and 13-11.  The Vikings, however, eventually pulled away with another 6-0 surge.

Cadence Wodrich came up big late for St. Francis.  After Waldorf took a 3-2 lead, Wodrich delivered three kills as part of a 4-0 run en route to the decisive fifth-game win.
Oliveira finished with a career-high 26 kills in the match courtesy of a .328 attack percentage.  She also registered 12 digs as one of three Saints to notch a double-double.  Anderson (17 kills, 13 digs) and Kaylie Sippel (49 assists, 12 digs) had the other two. 

Abby Sippel, meanwhile, nearly doubled her previous career-high in digs set earlier in the day with 35 more in the nightcap.  Other key pieces were Leah Talley (five aces), Connolly (ten kills) and Wodrich (seven kills).

Notes: USF is now 2-2 in five-set matches this season … Connolly has ten-plus kills in three straight matches for the first time in her career … Kaylie Sippel's 49 assists in the Waldorf match were the second-highest total of her career … Talley's five aces in the latter match were a season high and one off her career best of six set last year … Anderson and Kaylie Sippel's double-doubles were their eighth of the season and Oliveira's fifth … The Saints wrap up play in La Crosse Saturday morning against University of Saint Francis (Ind.) at 9 am.  

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.