JOLIET, Ill. -- Seeking to end its five-match losing streak, the University of St. Francis women's volleyball team came up just short in a Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference battle with Judson University, falling 25-10, 25-19, 23-25, 19-25, 15-10 at the Pat Sullivan Center on Tuesday night. With the loss, the Fighting Saints drop to 7-13 overall and 5-7 in league play.
Judson (8-14, 4-8 CCAC), who hit an astonishing .577 in the first set, held its largest lead of the frame at 22-7. The Eagles then went on to accrue their final three points via kills, as part of their 15 in total, to assist in pulling off the 25-10 win.
In Set 2, Judson again took the early lead after scoring five of the first seven points of the stanza. The Saints retaliated by spreading the offense with kills from
Delani Kirstein and
Landry Hall to rally the score to a two-point shortfall at 8-6, but the JU front line proved to be too much for the Saints to handle as the Eagles accounted for five kills and two blocks within their next eight points to jump ahead 15-7 before closing the set out with the 25-19 win.
Down 2-0 and needing to fight their way back, St. Francis started Set 3 strong. In the set, the Saints jumped out to a quick 15-5 lead via two service aces from Hall and kills from Kirstein,
Aubrey Phillips and
Taryn Mathews. JU followed the scoring outburst by capturing six of the next seven points before the Saints were able to break away with a 9-2 run that would help pave the way to a 25-13 final score.
After trailing at the beginning of the fourth set, the Saints were able to knot the score at 11-11 before quickly capturing seven of the next nine rallies to build their advantage to a 20-13 cushion. Judson would garner the next four points as a result of USF attacking errors, but the Saints adjusted and connected for kills from
Emma Rodriguez and Hall to close out the game and tie the match 2-2 with the 25-19 victory.
The Eagles were full steam ahead in the fifth set taking the early 7-3 lead which later expanded to an 11-6 advantage. St. Francis immediately followed up by taking the next two points, but three Eagle kills and a late high-energy block would squelch the comeback as well as the match for the Saints with a final score of 15-10.
Teske finished the match with a solid outing in falling just two digs shy of her seventh career triple-double with 18 kills, 13 assists and eight digs. Kirstein recorded 13 kills, while Mathews chipped in seven. Hall authored a match-high 14 digs on defense, while Kirstein recorded 13. Hall also led all setters with 29 assists on the night.
Up Next
The Saints return to action on Tuesday (Oct. 20) when they travel to Whiting, Ind. to take on calumet College of St. Joseph (Ind.) in a Chicagoland matchup with the Crimson Wave. The match will begin at 7 pm in the Rittenmeyer Center.
You can keep up with everything happening around USF Athletics on X @USFSaints.
