DAVENPORT, Iowa -- The University of St. Francis women's volleyball season came to an end on Tuesday night as the Fighting Saints dropped a 25-23, 19-25, 25-23, 20-25, 15-12 decision to St. Ambrose University (Iowa) in the opening round of the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament.

The first set featured the most ties (ten) and lead changes (nine) of the match.  With the score deadlocked at 10-10, St. Ambrose (16-15) jumped ahead with a 6-1 run only to have the Saints respond with the next six points, including two on a pair of Taylor Connolly kills, to give the Saints a 17-16 advantage.  The set stayed within two points the remainder of the way, but two USF attacking errors on the game's final two points allowed the hosts to claim the 25-23 victory.

St. Francis responded to the first-set loss in aggressive fashion, controlling Set 2 from the onset.  After grabbing the first two points, USF never relinquished the lead, widening the score to as high as seven points at 14-7.  SAU inched its way back after successfully gaining six of the next eight points, but Connolly and Riley Hungate slammed the door shut on the Bees.  The two front line hitters combined for seven of USF's next eight points via kills to pave the way to the 25-19 St. Francis win.

Set 3 was a mirror image of the second, but with the hosts dictating the advantage instead.  After the Bees jumped out to an 11-7 lead, St. Ambrose exploded for a string of six straight points.  Trailing by 10 then, the Saints swung back by producing a 9-2 run to shrink their deficit to three points at 19-16.  The rest of the set saw a trading of points before SAU pulled ahead by four points at 24-20.  Two kills from Hungate and a service ace by Desiree Anderson drove the Saints to within one, but SAU closed out the game with a thunderous kill to claim the 25-23 victory.

In Set 4, head coach Cara Currier's team initially trailed 3-1, but a string of SAU errors allowed the Saints to regain the lead and pull ahead 13-8.  USF would go on to raise its advantage to its largest lead of eight points at 23-15 thanks to multiple kills from all five front line hitters, but the Bees would not go down without a fight.  After SAU added five more points to its total to close the gap, Sophie Knazur ended the Bees' momentum with two straight kills to keep the Saints' season alive, winning Set 4 by the 25-20 score.

The final game proved to be a nail-biter as the race to 15 would determine one team's fate.  Two kills from Montana Groskreutz and one each by Kaylie Sippel, Hungate and Connolly gave the Saints their first five points of the set, but the consistency of the St. Ambrose attack proved to be too much for the Saints' defense to handle.  The Bees would tally 10 of their 15 points off kills in the stanza, keeping a comfortable four-point lead through the majority of the rallies.  Two late kills from Knazur allowed the Saints to build off two huge defensive blocks to pull within two, but it would not be enough as the Bees ended the set on a kill to win 15-12.

Hungate and Connolly each produced solid attacking nights for the Saints.  Hungate led the way with 22 kills, a .200 attack percentage and 12 digs.  Connolly added 12 kills and nine digs to go along with three solo blocks, while Abby Lab piloted the defense with a total of 17 digs on the night.  Sippel ended her career on a high note as she authored a season-high 42 assists and 13 digs to notch a double-double.

St. Ambrose was led by Trenyce Bonner's 23 kills and another 17 from Mackenzie Grafton.  

The Saints concluded their season with a 17-18 overall record.

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