Barely a month since the teams played a five-set battle that lasted three days, the Aquinas women's volleyball team notched a big 3-0 victory over crosstown rival Cornerstone on Wednesday night (Oct. 16) in the Sturrus Center. AQ tallied the sweep in the slimmest margin possible, winning all three sets by the minimum two points, 25-23, 25-23, and 26-24.
With the victory, Aquinas improves to 7-4 in WHAC play and evens its season record at 10-10 overall. Cornerstone drops to 7-4 in conference action and 10-12 overall in 2019.
When the teams met on Sept. 11, the Saints led the match 1-0 and the second set was tied at 18-18 before a power outage on Cornerstone's campus delayed the contest two full days. When the teams continued the match on Sept. 13, CU pulled out a tough 3-2 win on the strength of a 16-14 fifth set triumph.
In the third set on Wednesday, Cornerstone held an 18-12 advantage before Aquinas scored four straight points to stay in the match. CU stayed in front 23-20, but the Saints again rattled off four points in a row to take the 24-23 edge. After the Golden Eagles tied the score at 24-24, Payton Klein notched back-to-back kills to finish the set and the match.
Wednesday's contest – albeit close by the final scores – was much different and went in AQ's favor. There were 24 tie scores and 11 lead changes, but Aquinas prevailed in all three sets for its sixth sweep of the season. The Saints have won five of their last six matches.
Both teams were outstanding offensively in the first set on Wednesday, with CU hitting .406 and Aquinas notching a .344 attack clip. The Saints slowed down Cornerstone in sets two (.024) and three (.117), eventually outhitting the visitors by a .234 to .157 margin.
AQ also led in kills (44-40), assists (43-39), digs (64-61) and total blocks (7-3). Cornerstone served six aces to the Saints' five.
Klein put together a terrific performance with 12 kills and zero errors, tallying a .571 hitting percentage on just 21 swings. She also added three block assists. Jackie Rozell notched 10 kills and just two errors in 29 attempts, while serving up a pair of aces.
Kylie Christensen totaled eight kills and four total blocks (one solo), while Maddie Ingraham posted six kills and two block assists. Meredith Kraus supplied seven digs, three block assists, and three kills.
Kali Crawford provided a double-double of 32 assists and 15 digs, while adding four kills and a block. Karly Morris picked up a match-best 21 digs to go with six assists and just her third kill of the season. Adrien Yondo and Sam VanHouten each recorded seven digs, while Olivia Martinelli served three aces for AQ.
The Saints head on the road this weekend for a pair of matches. Aquinas takes on UNOH on Friday (Oct. 18) before facing Indiana Tech on Saturday (Oct. 19) in Fort Wayne, Ind.
