The crosstown rivalry match between the Aquinas and Cornerstone women's volleyball teams took more than two days to complete, with the host Golden Eagles pulling out a wild 16-14 victory in the fifth set on Friday night (Sept. 13) at Mol Arena. The teams traded the first four sets before Cornerstone scored the final two points of the match to earn the tough conference victory.
 
The WHAC opener for both schools originally began on Wednesday night (Sept. 11), with the Saints winning the opening stanza and set two being tied at 18-18. At that moment, Cornerstone's campus lost power due to the severe thunderstorms in the area, leaving the gym without power for several hours. The match started again at 5:00 p.m. on Friday from that 18-18 tie score in set two.
 
Aquinas fell in the match by the set scores of 25-22, 20-25, 25-23, 15-25, and 14-16. The Saints drop to 3-7 overall and 0-1 in WHAC play, while Cornerstone improves to 4-5 on the year and 1-0 in league action. AQ is off until next weekend (Sept. 21-22), when the Saints will host Indiana Tech and UNOH during Homecoming Weekend.
 
The teams alternated wins in the first four sets, with Cornerstone taking set four by a 25-15 score – the only set to be decided by less than five points – and seizing momentum. CU led 8-3 in the fifth set break, but Aquinas rattled off four points in a row and tied the match at 9-9 on a combined Kylie Christensen-Meredith Kraus rejection.
 
Cornerstone scored back-to-back points, but AQ notched the next three points to move ahead 12-11. The Saints led 13-12, but the Golden Eagles tallied the next two points to regain a 14-13 edge and served for match point. Jackie Rozell's 16th kill of the match tied the score at 14-14, but CU used a solo block and a kill to preserve the wild victory. 
 
Statistically, the Saints were ahead of Cornerstone in a few key categories, including aces (8-6) digs (75-73), and blocks (10.5 to 9), while the Golden Eagles committed 13 service errors to AQ's three miscues. CU did hit .225 with 64 kills, while Aquinas managed a .095 hitting percentage and 49 kills.
 
Rozell posted a team-high 16 kills, while Christensen added 10 kills, a match-best six block assists, and six digs. Both Payton Klein and Ally Blackford contributed eight kills, with Blackford chipping in seven digs and four block assists and Klein adding three block assists.
 
Kali Crawford recorded 41 assists, 15 digs, and three kills, while Karly Morris snagged a team-high 18 digs. Meredith Kraus totaled 12 digs, four block assists, and four kills. Allie Martin served three of AQ's eight aces and picked up seven digs, while Sam VanHouten tallied eight digs.