GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. --- Struggling to find its offense on the day, the University of St. Francis women's volleyball team saw its season-high four-match winning streak come to an end on Saturday following a pair of three-set losses to Cumberland University (Tenn.) and NAIA No. 12-ranked Aquinas College (Mich.).  The Saints would finish the afternoon with as many attacking errors (49) as kills over the two matches.  Twenty of the errors came on blocks by the opposition.   

The two setbacks left the Fighting Saints (8-5) with an even split of their four matches at the weekend Aquinas/Cornerstone University (Mich.) Tournament.

University of St. Francis vs. Cumberland (Tenn.)
USF was ready to go at the start, leading 5-0 at the beginning and again 11-7 in Set 1.  The Saints also led by a 19-18 count late before Cumberland (10-7) reeled off the final seven points of the game, with four coming on a pair of kills and two aces.  St. Francis would finish the match with ten reception errors.  Set 2 was a similar story with the Saints giving up a late lead.  After battling back from a 10-7 deficit to take as big as a 17-14 lead and up 23-22 late, USF allowed the Phoenix to score four of the final five points for their second straight rally.  The third set belonged to Cumberland, opening up an 11-5 advantage with USF only coming as close as 20-17 the rest of the match.

Abby Lab authored a double-double for USF with her 11 assists and 14 digs.  Maura Babuskow led the Saints defensively with her 16 digs.  Riley Hungate accounted for eight kills on the offensive end.

University of St. Francis vs. Aquinas
Courtesy of its team .382 attack percentage and five of six players hitting at least .308, Aquinas (14-1) controlled the majority of the second match.  USF did take an early 6-3 lead in Set 1 before Aquinas ran off 10 straight points.  In Set 2, the hosts opened up a 13-3 lead and never looked back.  The Saints, who hit -.045 for the contest, held its longest lead of the match in Set 3 at 11-9.  Aquinas, however, ran off 12 of the next 13 points to pull off the sweep.

Hungate finished with seven kills in the match to end the day with a team-best 15.  Desiree Anderson produced seven digs to total 20 over the two matches.

Next Match
Another ranked foe awaits in NAIA No. 17 Viterbo University (Wis.) on Tuesday at 6 pm when the V-Hawks make their first appearance at the Sullivan Center as part of the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference.

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