JOLIET, Ill. -- The University of St. Francis volleyball team put up a fight on Saturday afternoon, but came up short as it fell in four sets 23-25, 25-23, 25-20, 25-22 to Cumberland University Tenn.) in non-conference action. USF's loss drops the Fighting Saints' season record to 7-9 overall, while the Phoenix improve to 12-11.
St. Francis took the first set of the match, winning a back-and-forth battle over the Phoenix. After beginning with a slow start, USF rallied back to take its first lead of the game after a kill from
Sarah Schmidt pushed the Saints ahead 10-9. A string of long late rally efforts from both teams would follow, with neither squad taking more than a two-point lead the remainder of the way. The game showcased a total of eight tied scores with the last coming at 23-23, but the Saints would finish the first set capturing the final two points in authoritative fashion via back-to-back kills from
Emma Rodriguez to win 25-23.
Cumberland responded in the second set, this time winning the battle by mirroring a 25-23 score in its favor. The two teams traded points throughout the first 26 rallies of the game until the Phoenix took advantage of three straight USF attacking errors to jump ahead 16-13. St. Francis then worked themselves back to tie the game on five separate occasions - including a clutch kill from Rodriguez to even the score at 22-22 - before the guests exploded for three kills of their own to close the frame out and secure the win.
Things looked promising for the Saints early in the third set as the score stayed tight at 5-5 initially in the frame. The fun would come to a screeching halt, however, as Cumberland got back in sync and after securing the next five points, was able to capture 15 of the final 20 rallies to end with a 25-10 victory.
Hoping to turn things around after its third-set defeat, St. Francis began Set 4 strong, but was unable to keep up with the Phoenix down the stretch. A four-point advantage (20-16) quickly turned into an offensive onslaught by Cumberland with a total of six kills and two service aces resulting in the Saints getting out-scored 9-2 over the final 11 points of the night to finish the set with a 25-22 defeat and end the four-set contest.
St. Francis recorded a .129 hitting percentage in the loss on its 132 attacks compared to Cumberland's .212 mark.
Delani Kirstein (12) and
Alyssa Teske (12) combined to total 24 of the Saints' 40 kills, while
Landry Hall was the front-runner in assists (20).
Ann Simon rang up a match-high 12 digs from her libero position, while Hall chipped in 11 to register her fifth (and fourth straight) double-double of the season.
Up Next
St. Francis has two days of rest before it returns to action on Tuesday, Oct. 6. The Saints will be on the road to take on No. 18-ranked Viterbo University (Wis.) in their ninth Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference contest of the year. The match is slated to begin at 6 pm in the R.W. Beggs Senior Gymnasium in La Crosse, Wis.
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