ELGIN, Ill. – Senior outside hitter
Desiree Anderson totaled 15 kills for the University of St. Francis women's volleyball team on Thursday evening in a Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference match vs. Judson University. The Fighting Saints, however, came up short in the contest, dropping a four-set match to the Eagles with scores of 11-25, 25-17, 25-18, 25-23.
The Saints (12-10, 4-2 CCAC) started off hot in the first set, pulling ahead of Judson (11-8, 4-1) in the middle of the game with a seven-point run to take a 17-8 lead. Anderson started off the scoring surge with back-to-back kills. St. Francis kept the momentum going with subsequent kills from
Taylor Connolly and
Sophie Knazur before a solo block by
Cadence Wodrich finished off the set 25-11.
USF got off to a slower start in the second set with the Eagles jumping out to a 10-2 lead. The Saints responded by putting together a 7-2 swing of their own to decrease the deficit to three at 12-9. The next several rallies were a back-and-forth battle that resulted in St. Francis getting to within one point when a powerful kill from Connolly made it an 18-17 game. The Eagles answered the scoring push by rattling off the set's last seven points to take the 25-17 win.
The third set proved to be an even contest through the first 15 rallies with the Eagles holding the slight edge over the Saints 8-7. The back-breaker in the set for St. Francis would be a 6-0 Judson run with the Eagles claiming the majority of their points off kills to widen the gap to 14-7. The teams would swap points during the remainder of the stanza with Judson ending the frame victorious to take a 2-1 set lead.
The Saints were cruising the majority of the way in Set 4, tallying 13 kills that were spread amongst five different players within their first 20 points. Anderson authored six kills in the scoring stretch, Connolly,
Riley Hungate and
Alyssa Teske each had two and Wodrich registering one to claim a 20-13 lead. The comfort quickly turned to chaos, however, as St. Francis was not able to find an answer for Judson outside hitter Issy Nick. The Eagles went on an immediate 9-0 run, anchored by five kills from Nick to take the lead away from USF and surge ahead 21-20. Hungate tried to stop the bleeding with two kills among USF's three remaining points, but the Eagles' momentum was too much to stop as Judson came out on top in the final frame 25-23.
On the night, Anderson led the pack with a team-leading double-double of 15 kills and 14 digs, while Hungate chipped in eight kills of her own.
Kaylie Sippel led the Saints in assists with 17, while
Abby Lab was close behind with 15. Both players registered double-doubles, as well, with Sippel notching 12 digs and Lab 10.
Up Next
The Saints have a quick turnaround as they will take the court again Friday (Oct. 4) for a 4 pm face-off versus William Woods University (Mo.). The match is part of the Trinity Christian College Trolls Invite, which will include two additional matches being played on Saturday against Madonna University (Mich.) and Stephens College (Mo.).
You can keep up with everything happening around USF Athletics on X @USFSaints.
