FORT WAYNE, Ind. -- The University of St. Francis women's volleyball team put up a fight against Indiana Tech in the second set on Friday, but fell 3-0 in Match 1 of the Liz Lykowski Memorial Classic hosted by the Warriors. In a chance at redemption, the Fighting Saints were unsuccessful as they dropped a second three-set match to Grand View University (Iowa). The two losses dropped St. Francis to 1-4 overall on the season.
Indiana Tech def. USF (25-17, 25-20, 25-15)
Courtesy of its team .257 attack percentage and seven of eleven attacking players hitting at least .333, Indiana Tech (9-4) controlled the majority of the first match. USF did take an early 1-0 lead in Set 1 before the Warriors put together an 11-2 run to mark the score at 11-3. The Saints would fight their way back to a seven-point deficit (23-16) before allowing IIT to rattle off two of the sets' remaining three points.
The Saints, who hit .039 for the contest, held its largest lead of the match in Set 2 at 5-2. Indiana Tech quickly took back the lead at 7-6, however, after claiming five of the next six rallies, before the two teams met in a deadlock on four different occasions with the final tie occurring at 18-18. The Warriors then went on to accrue their final seven points with the help of two service aces and one kill to assist in pulling off the 25-20 win. In Set 3, the hosts opened up a 15-8 lead and never looked back in clinching the 3-0 sweep.
Emma Rodriguez collected eight kills in the match, while
Sarah Schmidt led the team with a .286 attack percentage.
Kennedy Walker (11 assists) and
Landry Hall (11) combined to author a total of 22 assists, while
Mya Broadway led the Saints defensively by registering nine digs.
Grand View def. USF (25-11, 25-18, 26-24)
In the first set, Grand View overpowered the Saints on the offensive end, authoring a .296 attack percentage compared to USF's -.154 in the stanza. The Vikings would score 12 points off kills and three off service aces in the 25-11 Set 1 USF loss.
St. Francis found itself playing from behind in the second frame as it fell into a 10-3 deficit early in the frame. The Saints were able to rally back from their hole thanks to two kills from Rodriguez and one each from
Alyssa Teske,
Delani Kirstein and Schmidt to bring the score within four points at 16-12. The Vikings kept their composure, however, as they held on to win 25-18.
Set 3 showcased seven tied scores within the first 28 rallies, but the Vikings would quickly surge forward from a 14-14 standoff by benefiting from three straight service aces. Subsequent kills from Rodriguez,
Taryn Mathews and
Alyssa Ignasak aided the Saints into coming to within two points at 21-19 and two key blocks from
Aubrey Phillips, Schmidt and Kirstein later tied the score at 24-24, but a two-point swing highlighted by a key kill from Grand View solidified the final score at 26-24 in the Vikings' favor.
Rodriguez finished with seven kills in the match to end the day with a team-best 15. Broadway produced six digs to total 15 over the two matches.
Up Next
St. Francis will play again on Saturday in the final day of the IIT Liz Lykowski Memorial Tournament. USF will meet St. Ambrose University (Iowa) at 8 am, followed by a showdown with Graceland University (Iowa) at 10:30 am.
You can keep up with everything happening around USF Athletics on X @USFSaints.
