JOLIET, Ill. --- The University of St. Francis women's volleyball team's 25-20, 25-20, 29-31, 25-15 Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference victory over Governors State University on Saturday night at the Sullivan Center put the bow on a perfect week for the Fighting Saints.  The win was the third straight for USF in just a five-day span and improved the team's record to 15-13 overall and 6-2 against league competition.

Head coach Cara Currier's club jumped out to a 9-5 lead in Set 1 before using a 4-0 run to extend the advantage to 13-6 courtesy of a pair of kills from Montana Groskreutz and one from Sophie Knazur.  Governors State (5-11, 1-7) would get as close as 18-15 before back-to-back-to-back kills from Sarah Schmidt, Knazur and Groskreutz put the Saints back up 21-15.  Riley Hungate then sealed the first game with her kill for the 25-20 win.

Set 2 was tight through the first 20 points with the two teams deadlocked at 10-all up to that point.  That is when USF went on a 6-0 burst to take the lead for good.  Kills from Taylor Connolly and Hungate were big as was an ace from Abby Lab.  From there, the Saints would maintain a comfortable advantage before Lab finished things off with a kill to net the identical final to that of Set 1.

Set 3 brought the most drama with 14 ties and eight lead changes.  Both teams also had three chances at match point before Governors State finally took advantage with three straight points at the end to force the fourth set.  The Jaguars took their first lead of the match at the start with the first two points and boosted it up to 6-3.  Three-point leads were the largest difference created by either team throughout the set.  A Groskreutz kill gave the Saints their first lead in the game at 9-8, which they were able to extend to 16-13.  GSU, however, would rally yet again with four straight points to go back up 20-18 and eventually 22-19.  USF would answer back with the next three points – two on kills from Connolly – to force a tie at 22-all.  Another three-point Saints run would turn a 24-22 deficit into a 25-24 St. Francis lead, but USF could not put the Jaguars away as the guests extended the match with the three points at the end.

The fourth set, nonetheless, belonged to the Saints from the beginning.  Two kills from Knazur, one from Connolly and a pair of aces from Kaylie Sippel enabled USF to jump out to a 6-0 lead.  Another kill from Connolly and Groskreutz put the margin at 12-4 and Governors State would never get closer than 17-12 the rest of the set.  St. Francis' .389 attack percentage in the final set was the difference as the Saints rang up 15 kills against only one error in 36 chances.

Four different USF players produced double-figure kill totals led by Hungate's double-double of 12 kills and 28 digs.  She also attacked at a match-high .243 percentage.  Groskreiutz matched Hungate with 12 kills, while Connolly and Knazur collected ten each.  Alyssa Teske also came on in the fourth set to net three kills in six chances.

Sippel and Lab were nearly identical on assists with Sippel gaining a slight 23-21 edge, while also recording three aces.  Celeste Zavala led the defensive attack with 36 digs.

Up Next
The Saints are at Olivet Nazarene University on Tuesday (Oct. 15) for their lone match next week.  The CCAC affair commences at 7 pm.

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