JOLIET, Ill. --- The University of St. Francis women's volleyball team closed out its 2023 regular season suffering a 25-14, 25-17, 25-21 defeat at the hands of St. Ambrose University in Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference play on Thursday night at the Sullivan Center.

Desiree Anderson led the Fighting Saints in three of the five main statistical categories with her eight kills, nine digs and three blocks.  Kaylie Sippel provided the most assists (15) and the second-most digs (eight).

Cadence Wodrich added five kills in just seven chances without an error for a .714 attack percentage.

In Set 1, St. Ambrose (16-14, 10-4 CCAC) led 5-2 in the early going before opening a 17-7 lead with an 8-2 run and never looked back.

Set 2 was tight early with the Saints (10-20, 8-6) holding a 7-6 lead when St. Ambrose went on an unanswered six-point run to go up 12-7.  Another 6-0 run followed shortly thereafter enabling the guests to open up a two-game advantage.

Set 3 was the most competitive with the Saints falling behind a pair of times only to rally twice.  They got down 6-1 at the start before responding with six straight points for a 7-6 lead.  Head coach Cara Currier's team also fell behind 13-9 before two kills each from Anderson and Taylor Connolly sparked an 8-2 burst and a 17-15 lead.

The two teams would tie twice after that at 17- and 19-all before SAU wrapped up the match with six of the final eight points.

Notes: The final day of league play resulted in a four-way tie for third place with Trinity Christian College, St. Francis, Saint Xavier University and Olivet Nazarene University all going 8-6 after all the dust settled.  That appears to have left USF as the No. 5 seed in the upcoming CCAC Tournament after all of the tiebreakers were worked out.  If that is indeed the case, the Saints will travel to Olivet Nazarene on Tuesday to begin postseason play.

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.