JOLIET, Ill. -- The University of St. Francis volleyball team saw their five-match winning streak come to an end on Tuesday night with a Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference defeat to Indiana University South Bend.  The Fighting Saints were unable to complete a tight 25-22 second set victory, which factored into the team's 3-1 loss against the Titans.  With the loss, St. Francis falls to 14-12 overall on the season, and 10-3 in league play.

Indiana South Bend (10-16, 6-6 CCAC) led early in the first set, aided by four USF errors as the visitors built a 7-3 lead.  St. Francis responded with a 7-1 run of their own, but the Titans roared back, surging ahead by capturing 10 of the next 13 rallies to mark the score at 20-14 and forcing the Saints to call a timeout.  Riley Hungate would collect two kills after the breather for the hosts, but another spree of USF errors would keep the Titans on top, finishing the set with a 5-3 advantage, and taking the first game 25-17.

The Titans took their momentum into the second set, opening on a 4-1 run with the lead gradually diminishing to USF's favor by a 12-9 count midway through the frame.  The game stayed tight with the two teams trading points until IUSB jumped ahead to grab its largest lead of the stanza at 20-16.  St. Francis would benefit from solo blocks from Jenna Wasco and Cadence Wodrich to aid in coming to within one point, but the flow would not slow down for the Titans, as they righted their offense with three kills and a service ace to eventually win the second set 25-22.

Trailing 0-2, the Saints responded in a big way in the second set, amassing a 10-5 lead with kills from Hungate and Wasco fueling St. Francis.  Both hitters collected four kills in the set, while Delani Kirstein piled on a three more in USF's 25-22 victory.  Four Saints combined for four blocks in the frame, sparking a 4-0 swing that gave the Saints the upper hand in the tightly contested battle.  A kill would account for the final point in the set for USF, with Kirstein authoring the dagger on the final rally.

A 16-3 scoring outburst killed the momentum on St. Francis' side of the net in the final set, after the Saints opened things early with a 3-1 lead.  The Saints regrouped and slowly pushed their deficit closer at 18-13, and later 20-17, sparked by back-to-back kills from Malaya Morris, but the early Titan run proved too much for USF to overcome in the end.  Kirsten (four kills) and Simon (11 digs, two service aces) were among St. Francis' bright spots in the final set, but their offensive and defensive efforts could not create a large rally, with Indiana South Bend pulling away winners 25-19, and securing the 3-1 match victory.

Hungate would lead St. Francis in kills with 13, but managed to hit .039 in the defeat.  Kirstein scored eight kills, and Wasco finished with six.  Alyssa Teske paced the passing with 13 assists while adding 11 digs to the team's defensive effort in securing a double-double, while Simon finished the night logging a team-high 25 digs.  Wasco and Wodrich each recorded two solo blocks in the defeat.

Up Next
The Saints will take the court again next Tuesday (Oct. 28) in a CCAC face-off against Saint Xavier University.  The match will begin at 7 pm in the Pat Sullivan Center.

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