SOUTH BEND, Ind. --- The University of St. Francis women's volleyball team opened up both a busy weekend and road trip with an exciting 17-25, 28-26, 26-24, 25-21 victory over Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference foe Indiana University South Bend on Thursday night.  The contest was the first of five straight away from the Sullivan Center in the next three days.

Gabriela Oliveira authored career highs in both kills (22) and digs (14) to carry the team to the victory.  The double-double was her third of the season.

Kaylie Sippel also had a big match with her 34 assists, 18 digs and three service aces.  She has delivered three straight double-doubles and six for the year.

Other key contributors were Desiree Anderson with a season-high 18 digs and Abby Sippel with 16.

Other than the first-set victory for Indiana South Bend (1-16, 1-5 CCAC) and the final point of the night, neither team led by more than three points in a contest made up of 39 ties and 19 lead changes.

IUSB used four runs of at least three points to go up 1-0 in the match.  The Titans also took an early 5-2 lead and led late by 23-21, 24-22 and 26-25 counts in Set 2 before the Fighting Saints stunned the hosts with the final three points.

USF (6-9, 5-2) maintained a slim lead for much of Set 3 until Indiana South Bend picked up three straight points to take a 22-21 advantage.  Oliveira was there to rally the Saints, however, with her two kills keying a final 5-2 push to go up two games to one.

In the final set, both teams used 4-0 runs to exchange leads.  IUSB produced the first one to take a 12-10 advantage only to have the Saints respond with the next four markers.  The latter then put the match to bed with five of the six final points, including two on Taylor Connolly kills.

Notes: Five of USF's six wins this season have come on the road, where it has gone 5-4 … The tests get no easier over the weekend with matchups against No. 13 Columbia College (Mo.) on Friday and No. 3 Indiana Wesleyan University on Saturday as part of the four-game Indiana Wesleyan Invitational.

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