The Aquinas women's volleyball team traveled to Spring Arbor, Michigan on Saturday (Feb. 6) to take on both the University of Cumberland (Tenn.) and Spring Arbor University in two non-conference matchups. The Saints took both matches three sets to none to improve to 5-1 overall and 1-1 in WHAC play.
First, AQ took on the Phoenixes of Cumberland beating them by scores of 25-20, 25-23, and 25-21. The loss moves Cumberland to 2-6 overall. Aquinas outmatched Cumberland offensively as AQ hit .239 as a team and recorded 43 kills and 41 assists. Cumberland tallied 34 kills and hit a .107 team percentage with 31 assists.
Aquinas also shined defensively as the team recorded 7 team blocks to none for the Phoenixes. Cumberland led in service aces (7-2) and edged AQ out in digs (47-46).
The Saints were led in the first match by
Jackie Rozell who hit .250 recording a team-high 11 kills. Rozell also added eight digs for Aquinas.
Emily Jones tallied 10 kills, hitting .444 and notched three block assists.
Kali Crawford dished out 36 assists. Crawford also recorded three block assists, eight digs, and three kills in the match.
Payton Klein finished with nine kills, hitting a .286 percentage. Klein notched six digs and added a pair of block assists.
Sam VanHouten tallied 13 digs in the three-set match.
Kylie Christensen totaled five kills on no errors, hitting .556 and also had a pair of block assists.
Meredith Kraus finished with four kills and three digs.
In the second match of the night, Aquinas faced the Cougars of Spring Arbor and topped them in straight sets by scores of 25-14, 25-20, and 26-24. The loss moves Spring Arbor to 5-11 overall.
The Saints recorded a team hitting percentage of .202 with 29 kills to that of the .000 percentage for the Cougars who tallied 36 kills. Spring Arbor edged out Aquinas in assists (33-27), digs (45-42), and aces (4-2) while AQ totaled 12 team blocks to the Cougars' three.
AQ was led in the second match by
Emily Jones who finished with 10 kills hitting a .368 percentage. Jones also recorded six total blocks (two solos and four assists) for the Saints.
Jackie Rozell also tallied 10 kills and added five digs.
Kylie Christensen notched four kills, hitting .571 and produced three block assists and three digs.
Sam VanHouten finished with 11 digs for Aquinas. Freshman
Chloe Mitchell dished out 20 assists and added three digs.
Meredith Kraus added four total blocks and four digs for AQ.
Payton Klein finished with three kills to hit .500 and had four digs.
Adrien Yondo notched six digs in the match.
Aquinas is back in action on Tuesday night (Feb. 9) as they travel to Madonna to face the Crusaders in a big WHAC showdown. First serve is scheduled for 7:00 PM.
