JOLIET, Ill. -- The University of St. Francis women's volleyball team celebrated its senior class with a bang on Tuesday night with a thrilling five-set reverse sweep over Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference foe Indiana University Northwest at the Sullivan Center.  The 23-25, 19-25, 25-12, 25-16, 15-4 victory marks win number 17 on the season for USF, carrying the Fighting Saints to a 17-16 overall mark and an 8-5 league record.  St. Francis honored its five seniors – Desiree Anderson, Abby Lab, Kaylie Sippel, Madison Koelker and Taylor Connolly - before the matchup against the RedHawks.

In an evenly-matched battle between the Saints and RedHawks, St. Francis found itself playing from behind after two sets as Indiana Northwest (14-16, 6-7 CCAC) rattled off two wins.  St. Francis built a 10-4 lead in the early stages of the first set and expanded its lead to seven over the next 13 rallies, giving the Saints initial command of the set.  The RedHawks were able to rally, however, with a 9-2 run to tie the score at 19-19 before USF reclaimed its advantage at 22-21.  Indiana Northwest scored four of the next five points to claim the Set 1 victory.  

The second set teetered back and forth for the duration of the game with both teams answering the other's offensive attacks.  The Saints saw a 14-13 lead erased late in the second set as Indiana Northwest rallied with a 10-1 run to mark the score at 23-15.  St. Francis connected for three kills from Riley Hungate, Cadence Wodrich and Connolly within the last six rallies, but the RedHawks were able to hold their momentum in the end, winning 25-19.

Trailing 2-0, the Saints started the third set motivated as Hungate and Anderson willed St. Francis to an early 8-2 lead.  The RedHawks would respond and get within three points at 8-5, but were unable to continue their offensive strike with Anderson pushing the home team further ahead with a pair of kills.  USF would only trail 2-0 at the outset, leading the rest of the way as Hungate, Anderson and Sippel carried the Saints to a 25-12 victory with the winning point coming on a strategic Sippel kill.

The fourth set was a near-mirror image of the second with both St. Francis and Indiana Northwest going round for round in the game.  Neither team would gain a lead of more than four points midway through the set.  St. Francis pushed ahead first by building a 6-4 edge, which turned into a 9-6 RedHawk advantage over the next five rallies.  A kill from Anderson terminated the visitor's momentum and helped start an 8-3 scoring spurt.  Another 9-1 surge enabled USF to gain a commanding 23-15 lead.  Two RedHawk mistakes provided the final two points of the game and forced a fifth set following the 25-16 St. Francis win.

In the final set, both squads produced even results with the score knotted at 3-3 through the first six rallies.  The turning point of the set came on the seventh rally when a powerful kill from Connolly set the stage for a massive display of offensive dominance from the USF front line.  A string of seven straight USF points forced RedHawk coach Alondra Avalos to call a timeout to try to squelch the home team's momentum.  The strategy looked to be successful with an immediate RedHawk kill after the stoppage, but St. Francis remained undeterred and continued its scoring onslaught by claiming all five points of the set's remaining rallies, giving USF the 15-4 victory and the 3-2 overall win.

USF finished the match outhitting Indiana Northwest .329 to .148 with Anderson (14), Connolly (12) and Hungate (11) all registering double-digit kills.  Sophie Knazur added five kills in the match with a team-best .444 hitting percentage.  Anderson and Hungate authored double-doubles with each player tallying 16 digs, while Sippel provided seven digs to go with her team-best 27 assists and season-high three blocks.  Lab contributed another 17 assists.

Up Next
The Saints will be back in action on Thursday, Nov. 7 at 7 pm for their final match of the regular season when they travel to Davenport, Iowa to take on St. Ambrose University (Iowa).

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