UPLAND, Ind. -- Struggling to find its offense on the day, the University of St. Francis women's volleyball team was dealt a pair of losses on Saturday following a duo of three-set setbacks to University of Pikeville (Ky.) and Mount Vernon Nazarene University (Ohio).  The two losses left the Fighting Saints (1-5) without a win in their four matches over the weekend at the Taylor University (ind.) Classic.

Pikeville def. USF  (25-19, 23-25, 25-15, 25-17)
After trailing early in the first set, the Saints were able to even the score at 9-9 before an 11-1 scoring surge from the Bears put the game out of reach at a 20-10 margin.  The Saints would capture nine of the set's remaining 14 points, but it was too little, too late with Pikeville (2-4) taking the 25-19 first-set win.

St. Francis found its groove late in the second frame after trailing 10-3 at the start.  The Saints benefited from seven Pikeville errors to go along with four kills and three service aces of their own to set up an 8-1 scoring explosion to close out the game.  Riley Hungate connected for four kills during the latter run to solidify the USF 25-23 win.

The momentum would quickly halt for the Saints in the final two sets, however, as Pikeville picked up its offensive pressure and dominated the USF defense with a combined 31 kills to the Saints' 18, pushing the Bears to 25-15 and 25-17 wins, respectively.

St. Francis recorded 39 kills in the loss, led by Hungate's 14.  She also topped the squad in digs with 16 for her third double-double of the season, while Delani Kirstein led the team in service aces (four) and block assists (two).

Mount Vernon Nazarene def. USF  (25-14, 25-18, 25-13)
Courtesy of its team .253 attack percentage and five of six players hitting at least .200, Mount Vernon Nazarene (6-3) controlled the majority of the second match.  USF did take an early 1-0 lead in Set 1 before the Cougars put together a 10-3 run to mark the score at 10-4.  The Saints would fight their way back to a two-point deficit (13-11) before allowing MVU to rattle off 12 of the sets' remaining 15 points.

The Saints, who hit .095 for the contest, held its largest lead of the match in Set 2 at 11-9.  Mount Vernon, however, ran off 12 of the next 15 points to assist in pulling off the 25-18 win.  In Set 3, the hosts opened up an 11-2 lead and never looked back in clinching the 3-0 sweep.

Hungate finished with five kills in the match to end the day with a team-best 19.  Ann Simon produced six digs to total 18 over the two matches.

Up Next
St. Francis has four days of rest before it returns to action on Thursday, Sept. 4.  The Saints will be at home to take on Judson University in their Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference opener.  The match is slated to begin at 7 pm in the Sullivan Center.

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