JOLIET, Ill. -- The University of St. Francis women's volleyball team closed out the 2025 regular season with a win in a thriller of a match Thursday night inside the Pat Sullivan Center, using a .474 attack percentage in the final set to send visiting Olivet Nazarene University home as the loser with a 3-2 win in Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference competition.  Senior Riley Hungate and sophomore Alyssa Teske combined for 32 kills against ONU defenders, helping send the Fighting Saints to scores of 25-22, 27-25, 22-25, 23-25, 15-5.

The CCAC victory solidifies the Fighting Saints' conference record at 14-4 on the year and 18-13 overall.  USF finishes the regular season in a tie with Saint Xavier University for second place honors, but as a result of USF defeating the Cougars via a head-to-head tie-breaker, the Saints (No. 2 seed) will host Indiana University South Bend (No.7 seed) on Tuesday for its first playoff match of the CCAC Tournament.

The Saints dominated the Tigers out of the gate in the first frame with kills accounting for 12 points off long rallies.  The match stayed even throughout the first half with neither team extending the lead beyond a four-point advantage until an ONU attacking error gave USF its largest advantage of the set at 16-11.  Olivet Nazarene, however, would immediately benefit from seven kills over the next 11 rallies to knot the score at 19-19.  It was then that an untimely service error from the visitors would set the stage for the Saints to recapture the momentum and combine for four of their remaining five points off kills to secure the Set 1 win with a score of 25-22.

St. Francis wasted no time in flexing some muscle over the competition in Set 2, racing out to a 9-5 lead.  The lead did not last for long, however, as the Tigers took off on a 7-1 scoring spurt that allowed the guests to swing the advantage in their favor at 12-10.  The two teams would trade points over the next 15 rallies - with St. Francis accounting for all of its points off kills - to eventually tie the score at 18-18 forcing the Tigers to call a timeout. Five tied scores would then ensue pushing the game to 24-24 with USF finding itself one point away from a second-set loss after ONU registered a powerful kill to jump ahead 25-24.  An ONU attacking error on the next rally would give the Saints the ball back and allow Kirstein to excite the crowd with back-to-back service aces to solidify the 27-25 nail-biting Set 2 win for the Saints.

Olivet Nazarene (11-19, 7-8) put up its biggest fight at the start of each of the third and fourth sets, grabbing early leads and winning the race to 15 in both frames.  In Set 3, the Saints narrowed the gap to 19-15, and after trailing 22-16, rattled off an impressive 6-1 run - which featured three kills from Hungate and an block assist from Delani Kirstein and Malaya Morris - to come to within one point at 23-22, but the Tigers would be the victors in the end with the guests taking the final two points and the 25-22 victory.  In Set 4, the Tigers expanded their scoring margin to as many at 11 points (18-7) and held their lead at 21-11 before USF took advantage of a string of ONU attacking errors to work its way back to a 24-23 score.  ONU would author a kill on the next point, however, and finish the set with a final showing of 25-23.

With the match tied 2-2, the intensity turned up in the fifth set with St. Francis aggressively jumping out to a 9-3 lead.  ONU connected for a kill in helping to bring the Tigers to within five points, but the Saints exploded for a 6-1 run over the last seven rallies to solidify the final score at 15-5 in USF's favor.

St. Francis connected for 25 kills between the first two sets, while Set 5 featured an impressive .474 attack efficiency.  The Saints finished with a resounding 57 kills on offense and 86 digs on defense.  Along with Hungate and Teske's 32 combined kills, Kirstein and Cadence Wodrich each finished the match with three solo blocks apiece, while Morris and Emma Rodriguez both chipped in one. 

Offensively, Hungate collected a team-high 19 kills, while Rodriguez posted a match-best .226 attack percentage.  Talia Messana (28) and Teske (22) split the setting duties, each combining for 50 of the team's 56 assists apiece.  Ann Simon manned the USF backcourt with 18 total digs.

Next Up
The Saints will match up against Indiana University South Bend in a battle of the No. 2 and 7 seeds in the CCAC Tournament on Tuesday Nov. 11.  As the higher seed, the Saints will stay at home to host on the Titans at the Past Sullivan Center.  Gametime will be at 7 pm.

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