DAVENPORT, Iowa -- On a night where Alyssa Teske recorded her third triple double of the season, the University of St. Francis volleyball team earned a thrilling five-set reverse sweep victory over St. Ambrose University (Iowa) in Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference action.  St. Francis' win ups the Fighting Saints to an overall record of 9-9 on the year, while they also improve to 6-2 in league standings.

Teske led the team in kills with 16, with Riley Hungate not far behind with 13.  Teske also tallied 22 assists as part of her third triple double of the season, capping the performance off with 20 digs.  Hungate claimed the most digs with 25, while Mya Broadway had 24.  Wodrich led all players with two solo and nine block assists on the night.

The Saints started off the match against St. Ambrose fighting for the lead with Teske recording two kills in a row, followed up later by a service ace from Hungate to level the set 7–7.  The Bees won the race to 10 after securing the game's next three points, but the Saints retaliated with a vengeance, authoring a dominating 11-0 scoring run to jump ahead 18-10.  The momentum would quickly teeter back to St. Ambrose, however, when SAU middle hitter Grace Beitzel took off to account for six kills over the next 13 rallies to pull the Bees back to within three points at 22-19.  From there Beitzel passed the scoring torch to teammate Marta Barriguinha who finished off the set with five kills of her own to claim the come-from-behind 26-24 victory from the Saints in the first set.

After the tough loss in set one, the Saints picked it back up at the beginning of the second frame to take an early 8-5 lead with four players accounting for USF's first five kills.  After a couple of back-and-forth points, SAU went on a 4-0 run to take its first lead of the stanza at 13-10. The Bees went on one more run to extend its advantage to a game-high four points at 23-19 before ending the set after back-and-forth points with a strong block.  St. Ambrose came out victorious with the 25-21 final score and the 2-0 lead in the match.

Trailing 0-2, the St. Francis started the third set motivated, as attacking errors from the hosts helped boost the Saints to an early 14-12 lead.  St. Ambrose would respond with a 5-0 spurt and capture the lead at 18-15, however they were unable to hold onto it, as Emma Rodriguez pushed her team back in front with a trio of kills.  Barriguinha would continue to be a thorn in USF's side, accounting for the next two points of the set via a kill and service ace to mark the score in SAU's favor at 21-20, before Cadence Wodrich took charge for USF with a dominating kill and a key block assist to spark a 4-0 run.  Teske later claimed the final point in the set with a kill to carry the Saints to a 25-22 win.

The fourth set showcased St. Francis and St. Ambrose going round for round in the game, with neither team gaining a lead of more than three points. The Bees pushed ahead first by building a 5-3 lead, which grew to three points over the next eight rallies.  A subserquent service error from SAU killed its momentum and 10-7 lead, as the Saints slowly chipped away thereafter, eventually using a 4-0 run to take a 16-15 lead.  Teske was the catalyst in the run, recording a kill before Sarah Schmidt put her team in front with a kill of her own.  Both sides scored multiple 2-0 runs as the lead shifted back and forth, eventually landing with St. Ambrose in front by a 23-22 count.  After two attacking errors gave USF the 24-23 lead, Teske again scored the final point of the game for St. Francis, forcing a fifth set following the 25-23 win.

In the final game, the two sides exchanged tallies throughout the duration producing six tied scores before the stanza hit the midway point at 8-8 as neither team expanded its lead past two points.  Back-to-back kills helped push SAU to a 10-8 lead, but Wodrich again stepped up to halt the Bees' advance with a critical solo block to break the rally.   Both sides of the court continued to swap points to 17-17 until the Saints gained the upper hand after benefiting from a SAU attacking error followed by Hungate burying her final attack of the match to win the fifth set 19-17, giving St. Francis the 3-2 win.

Up Next
St. Francis has two days of rest before it returns to action on Friday, October 3.  USF will be on the road in Palos Heights, Ill. to take on Indiana Wesleyan University at 7 pm in Day 1 of the Trinity Christian College Trolls Invite.

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