CHICAGO -- The University of St. Francis women's volleyball team went to battle against Saint Xavier University in Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference action on Saturday morning, fighting the Cougars until the final set. A rally, however, in the fifth game did not last as the Fighting Saints dropped a 10-25, 25-21, 25-15, 23-25, 15-9 decision. With the five-set defeat, St. Francis falls to 7-12 on the year, while moving to 5-6 in CCAC play.
The first set started out as a tight battle with the game sitting at a 7-5 USF advantage at the start. The momentum began to dramatically shift to St. Francis' side, however, after a kill from
Annika Van Heemst followed by a string of SXU attacking errors widened USF's scoring margin to ten points (20-10). The Saints would later finish the set with three kills, a block and a service ace to authoritatively seal the 25-10 victory.
Saint Xavier (6-14, 6-5 CCAC) took game two after working its way back from a 7-2 deficit before tying the score at 16-16 midway through the frame. St. Francis claimed the next point to retake the lead, but the Cougars retaliated back with a momentum shifting 5-1 run to draw a timeout with a 21-18 score. The Saints fired back winning three of the next five rallies after the breather, but it was too little, too late with the Cougars securing the final two points and the 25-21 Set two win.
Set 3 showcased the two teams trading punches resulting in an 8-8 tie early in the frame. SXU would then lay on the gas and found itself winning the race to 20 via an explosive 12-2 scoring surge, before the Saints worked themselves back to a seven-point deficit with kills from
Delani Kirstein, Alyssa Teske and
Sara McGraw. That momentum quickly halted, however, with Saint Xavier accounting for the set's remaining three points for the 25-15 win.
The start of set 4 proved to be a reflection of the third stanza, with the two squads swapping points, but this time it would last all the way throughout the entirety of the 48-rally stanza. After six tied scores, SXU again found itself winning the race to 20 points with a one-point advantage (20-19), before the Saints tied the game for the seventh time with an
Emma Rodriguez kill on the next rally. Three more tied scores would ensue before a strong kill later by Teske followed by a Cougar error on the final point closed the door, giving St. Francis the 25-23 win.
The Cougars were full steam ahead in the fifth set taking the early 7-4 lead which later expanded to a 12-7 advantage. St. Francis quickly followed up with two kills from Teske and Kirstein, but two Cougar kills and a USF attacking error would squelch the comeback as well as the match for the Saints with a final score of 15-9.
Teske, took care of business at the net, registering a team-high 12 kills, while
Aubrey Phillips chipped in with eight.
Landry Hall topped the team in digs with 13 and registered 22 assists in recording her sixth double-double in a Saints' uniform.
Kennedy Walker accounted for nine more of the team's 41 total assists.
Up Next
St. Francis has two days of rest before it returns to action on Tuesday, Oct. 13. The Saints will be at home to take on Judson University. The match is slated to begin at 7 pm in the Sullivan Center.
You can keep up with everything happening around USF Athletics on X @USFSaints.
