JOLIET, Ill. -- The University of St. Francis women's volleyball team closed out its 2024 regular season suffering a 25-19, 25-20, 19-25, 25-13 defeat at the hands of St. Ambrose University in Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference play on Thursday night in Davenport, Iowa.  With the loss, the Fighting Saints head into postseason play with an overall record of 17-17 and finish the league season at 8-6.

St. Ambrose (15-14, 9-5 CCAC) took the first set of the match 25-19, winning a back-and-forth battle over the Saints.  Runs from both sides of the net gave each team a respective lead until three straight USF errors put the Bees up 12-8.  That lead would never be relinquished the remainder of the set with the home team closing the game with 10 kills and one service ace to account for 11 of its remaining 13 points.

St. Ambrose held momentum early in the second set as the Bees scored the first five points of the game.  The run would come to a screeching halt, however, as St. Francis got back in sync and captured six of the next nine rallies to help cut its deficit to two points.  Another run totaling eight consecutive points gave USF a 14-9 lead and forced a stoppage from St. Ambrose as the Bees attempted to squelch the bleeding.  SAU slowly started its recovery, tying the score at 17-17, before a St. Ambrose service error allowed the Saints to regain an 18-17 advantage.  That would not last long, however.  Despite a number of long late rally efforts from USF, St. Ambrose would finish the second set on an 8-2 scoring clip to win 25-20..

St. Francis responded in the third set, winning the battle by a 25-19 score.  The Saints controlled things from the start after jumping out to a quick 3-1 lead.  USF's momentum picked up even more energy as the set progressed with multiple kills from Sophie Knazur and Taylor Connolly fueling the visitors to a 20-13 edge.  The Bees would rebound with a 3-0 run to get closer, but the Saints finished strong, with kills from Riley Hungate and Cadence Wodrich for the final two points to secure the St. Francis win.

Hoping to build more momentum off its third-set victory, St. Francis looked to start Set 4 strong, but was unable to keep up with St. Ambrose.  Fatigue set in with the Saints falling quickly behind 12-3 on the scoreboard.  The Saints were able to slow down the Bee attack after registering six of the next eight points, but they would get out-scored 11-4 over the final 15 rallies of the night to finish the set with a 25-13 defeat and end the four-set contest.

St. Francis recorded a .045 hitting percentage in the loss on its 133 attacks compared to St. Ambrose's .174 mark.  Connolly led USF with seven kills, while Kaylie Sippel added six and was the front-runner in both assists (16) and digs (10).  Knazur totaled five blocks (four assisted, one solo) and Maura Babuskow rang up nine digs from her libero position.

Up Next
The final day of league play resulted in USF as the No. 5 seed in the upcoming CCAC Tournament.  With St. Ambrose finishing at No. 4, the Saints will travel back to Davenport, Iowa on Tuesday, Nov. 12 to again take on the Bees to start postseason play.  The match will begin at 7 pm.

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