JOLIET, Ill. -- The University of St. Francis women's volleyball team put on a defensive display Thursday night inside the Pat Sullivan Center, using 14 assisted blocks and 66 digs to arise victorious over visiting Governors State University with a thrilling 3-2 win in Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference competition.
Sarah Schmidt,
Aubrey Phillips and
Olivia Cosgrove combined for nine rejections of Jaguar attacks, while four Saints registered double-digit digs in helping send the Fighting Saints to final scores of 24-26, 25-21, 25-16, 14-25, 15-13.
St. Francis (7-7, 5-2 CCAC) dominated the net out of the gate in the first frame with blocks accounting for four resounding points off long rallies. The match stayed even throughout the first half with neither team extending the lead beyond a three-point advantage until a GSU attacking error gave USF its largest lead of the set at 23-19. Governors State, however, would immediately benefit from two USF errors before missing a serve to find itself down 24-21 and one point away from a first-set loss. The visitors would not go down without a fight, however, as they rattled off the last five points of the frame to solidify the 24-26 Set 1 loss for the Saints.
USF wasted no time in flexing some muscle over the competition in Set 2, racing out to an 11-4 lead. The Jaguars eventually closed the scoring gap to as many as three points at 23-20 before Schmidt and Kirstein authored well-timed kills to allow the Saints to settle in for the four-point victory at 25-21. USF totaled 14 kills in the stanza, led by Teske with four, while Kirstein, Phillips and
Annika Van Heemst recorded three apiece.
The third stanza saw St. Francis never relinquish the lead after producing a 9-6 start. Governors State would come as close as one point at 16-15, but it was then that USF took off on a 9-1 scoring run fueled by five kills and two service aces to finish the frame and seal the 25-16 victory.
Governors State (6-9, 3-4) put up its biggest fight at the end of the fourth set, grabbing as high as a 12-point lead before ending the frame with a 25-14 final score. The two teams traded tallies at the start but after trailing by just one point at 11-10, the Saints were the victims of an 11-3 Jaguar scoring run that encompassed six kills and three service aces that resulted in the guests surging ahead 25-14 and tie the match up at two games apiece.
The final set began in GSU's favor as it was able to hold an 8-7 advantage at the halfway mark. The Saints fought their way back, however, to take the lead at 13-12 before a huge block from Kirstein and Phillips placed the Saints one point away from victory. The Jaguars immediately responded with a kill, but St. Francis put the game away one rally later on a kill from Schmidt to win the set 15-13 and walk away with the 3-2 victory.
The Saints finished the match with an impressive 49 kills on offense and 66 digs on defense. Along with Schmidt, Phillips and Cosgrove's nine combined blocks, Teske finished the match with two, while Kirstein, Van Heemst and
Taryn Mathews each chipped in one.
Offensively, Schmidt collected a team-high 12 kills and also posted a match-best .478 attack percentage.
Kennedy Walker (23) and
Landry Hall (16) split the setting duties, while
Maura Babuskow manned the USF backcourt with 13 total digs.
St. Francis extended its all-time series lead against Governors State to a 15-1 margin with Thursday's win also marking the third 3-2 USF victory of the season.
Next Up
The Saints have a four-day break before suiting up again next Tuesday (Sept. 29) in a CCAC face-off against Indiana University Northwest. The match will begin at 7 pm in Gary, Ind.
You can keep up with everything happening around USF Athletics on X @USFSaints.
