University of St. Francis (III.)

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- The University of St. Francis women's volleyball team opened their Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference season with a 3-2 loss against Indiana University South Bend Tuesday night. The Saints took the Titans to five sets, ultimately falling short 25-14, 23-25, 25-23, 24-26,15-8.
 
The first set started with IUSB (5-9, 1-0 CCAC) going up 7-2 before the Saints (1-2, 0-1) rallied to within one to make the score 9-8. IUSB then went on a 12-1 run that they would never look back from, only allowing the Saints to score five more points in the set for a final score of 25-14. Alyssa Teske began her night with four kills in the set, tied for most between the two teams.
 
After set No. 1 was won by double digits, set No. 2 began a string of three straight sets which were decided by two points. USF held the lead from the beginning of the set, until a five-point run by the Titans allowed them to take the lead at 15-14. After this point, neither team's lead ever exceeded three points, with seven ties happening throughout the remainder of the set. USF was able to create a three-point run after the final tie at 21-21, before a kill by Teske knotted the match at 25-23 in the Saints' favor.

The third set authored the most ties and the most lead changes of the night, with eight and six respectively. IUSB grabbed another early lead in the match before USF clawed their way back to knot the score at 15 apiece. In a mirror of the second frame, neither team's lead exceeded three points again, with the final score identical to the previous set.  However, it was IUSB that would come out on top as a result of six kills from Alyssa Carson, who finished her night with 20 in total.
 
Needling a win to send the match to game five, the Saints took control early while getting kills from six different players. They would hold the lead until the hosts would go on a 5-1 run late to tie the score in a 21-21 deadlock. Looking to extend the match to a fifth stanza, Annika Van Heemst broke the tie with a kill, before scoring an ace on her only serve in the set to give the Saints a 26-24 victory.
 
Just as the first and third sets saw IUSB take a commanding lead, set No. 5 was no different. Beginning the frame with an 8-0 run that saw six errors committed by the Saints, USF was not able to recover in the shortened 15-point set. In total, the final stanza saw nine errors from the Saints' front line, tied for the most in a single-set showing on the day, ultimately finishing with a score of 15-8.
 
The Saints had two players with double digit kills on the night, with Teske leading the way with 16 and Sarah Schmidt with 10. Schmidt was also tied for the team lead in blocks with three, along with Olivia Cosgrove. Landry Hall had the most assists on the team with 22, and was second in digs with 11 to Ann Simon, who had 15.
 
Up Next
The women's volleyball team will be back in action at the Indiana Tech Liz Lykowski Memorial Tournament on Friday (Sept. 4) and Saturday (Sept. 5).  The Saints will face the hosts, Indiana Tech, on Friday at 12:30 pm CST before taking on Grand View University (Iowa) at 3 pm. Saturday also features a doubleheader against St. Ambrose University (Iowa) at 8 am and Graceland University (Iowa) 10 am.
 
You can keep up with everything happening around USF Athletics on X @USFSaints.