JOLIET, Ill. -- In the first ever meeting between the two teams, the University of St. Francis women's volleyball team produced a 25-9, 25-19, 23-25, 25-16 victory over Moody Bible Institute in non-conference action on Friday night. The win improved the Fighting Saints to 5-7, while Moody Bible dropped to 0-6 overall.
As a team, St. Francis hit .109, while limiting MBI to a .037 hitting percentage.
Emma Rodriguez led the team in kills with 10, while
Aubrey Phillips chipped in eight.
Ann Simon (14) and
Abby Sippel (11) each recorded double-digit digs on the night with Phillips headlining the Saints' defense at the net by authoring four assisted blocks.
The first set showcased itself to be a back-and-forth battle with the game sitting at an 8-6 USF advantage at the start. The momentum began to dramatically shift to St. Francis' side, however, after kills from
Delani Kirstein and
Sarah Schmidt along with four service aces from Sippel widened USF's scoring margin to ten points (16-6). Moody Bible then buckled under the pressure and gifted the Saints six of their net eight points off offensive miscues before
Alyssa Teske connected for a kill to take the final four point and secure the 25-9 Set 1 win for USF.
The Saints started off hot in Set 2, pulling ahead of Moody Bible early in the game with a 7-2 lead. The Archers quickly got back into the mix, however, benefiting from USF errors to close the gap at 10-8. After a strong kill from
Taryn Mathews gave USF the serve, the Saints surged ahead to an 18-11 advantage, registering four kills - from Schmidt (2),
Malaya Morris and Phillips during the run - forcing MBI to call a timeout. The breather would aid the guests in later coming within two points (20-18), but the Saints would claim five of the last six rallies in the 25-19 victory.
The start of set 3 proved to be a reflection of the first frame, with the two teams trading punches but this time it would last all the way throughout the entirety of the 48-rally stanza. After 10 tied scores, USF found itself winning the race to 20 points with a one-point advantage (20-19), before the Archers tied the game for the 11th time with a kill on the next rally. Consecutive attacking errors from the USF front line and a MBI kill allowed the Archers to author their largest lead of the night (23-20), before a strong kill later on the final point closed the door, giving the guests the 25-23 win.
The final game saw St. Francis never relinquish the lead after producing a 5-1 start. Moody Bible would come as close as three points at 11-8, but it was then that USF took off on a 14-8 scoring run fueled by 10 kills to finish the frame and seal the 25-16 victory.
Up Next
The Saints return to action on Tuesday (Sept. 22) when they travel to Milwaukee, Wis. to take on Mount Mary University (Wis.) in a Chicagoland matchup with the Blue Angels. The match will begin at 7 pm in the Bloechl Center.
You can keep up with everything happening around USF Athletics on X @USFSaints.
