ELGIN, Ill. – Aided by its strong defense and well-timed scoring spurts, the University of St. Francis women's volleyball team scored a 25-22, 21-25, 25-18, 25-17 victory over Judson University in Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference play on Thursday night.  With the victory, the Fighting Saints improve to 12-11 on the year, and 8-2 in league play.

The match started strong as St. Francis built an early 13-9 lead in the opening set.  Through a series of strong attacks from the Eagles and miscues by the Saints, Judson was able to claw back to within one point to notch the score at 19-18.  The two squads then traded three-point runs, but the Saints were able to benefit from three straight Judson errors to close out the set and claim the 25-22 set one win.

The second set began tight with the two teams staying within one point throughout the first 30 rallies, producing a 15-15 score midway through the frame.  After the Eagles secured the next point after a long rally, USF would push ahead with a 4-0 scoring spurt, but the swing of momentum was quickly diminished by a 5-0 Eagle run, giving Judson a 21-19 advantage.  The set would teeter back and forth from there until the final two rallies when a service ace followed by a kill from JU's Alyssa Burke finished a 3-0 Eagle run to give the hosts the 25-21 victory.

After producing a slow start to begin set three, St. Francis capitalized on a strong 11-2 run midway through to jump head and take its first lead of the night at 18-13.  Cadence Wodrich (two kills, two solo blocks) and Ann Simon (two service aces, one assist) played a key role in fueling the run with the two players combining for seven points.  An ensuing 6-1 run from the Saints put the set out of reach for Judson, with a kill from Alyssa Teske accounting for USF's final point of the game, sealing the 25-18 win.

The final set would again start tight with the two teams trading punches until a 10-2 scoring explosion from the Saints set the score at 19-13.  From that point, St. Francis never looked back, as the Saints cruised to the 25-17 victory aided by four kills from Riley Hungate as a part of USF's final six points.

The Saints recorded 43 kills in the win, led by Hungate and Emma Rodriguez with 13 and eight, respectively.  Hungate also put up a team-high team 19 digs, while Teske dished out a match-high 21 assists.

Up Next
St. Francis will travel to Milwaukee, Wis. on Saturday (Oct. 11) to take on first-year conference member Mount Mary University (Wis.) at 11 am at the Bloechl Center.

You can keep up with everything happening around USF Athletics on X @USFSaints.