The Aquinas women's volleyball team traveled down the road to face #22 Cornerstone for the second and final time in regular season on Tuesday night (Mar. 16). AQ was looking for a rematch win, as the Saints only loss this year before tonight was also to the Golden Eagles. Despite playing a very strong second set, Aquinas fell in three sets by scores of 25-13, 32-30, 25-15.
The Saints struggled offensively as they tallied just eight kills with eight errors in the first set. The Golden Eagles got off to a strong 6-1 lead in the first to force AQ to a timeout. Cornerstone continued to rally out of the timeout and grabbed the first set win by a 25-13 score.
Aquinas was able to find its way out of the funk in the second set, hanging tight with Cornerstone the whole game. AQ tallied 21 kills and hit .319 in the second, but had some costly errors down the stretch to drop 32-30.
In the third, a 8-1 scoring run in the middle of the set by the Golden Eagles extended their lead to 15-9. It was Cornerstone the rest of the way. Aquinas drops to a 18-2 overall record, 11-2 WHAC. The win advances Cornerstone to a 15-2 overall record, 11-1 in conference.
Payton Klein led the Saints totaling 12 kills and nine digs. Klein hit .333 and also tallied a service ace. Kali Crawford, who was just named NAIA National Setter of the Week today, finished with an impressive 33 assist total in the three sets. Crawford also added 10 digs for another double-double on the year.
Jackie Rozell posted 13 digs, eight kills, and a pair of block assists. Kenzi Dobosiewicz totaled 11 digs while Adrien Yondo dug up eight. Emily Jones posted nine kills for AQ. Kylie Christensen finished with five kills while Samee Teachworth added three block assists for the Saints.
Aquinas couldn't find a way around the Cornerstone block, hitting just .115 tonight. Defensively, the Saints got outblocked 11-4. The Golden Eagles also grabbed the advantage in digs (57-54) and aces (6-2).
AQ will return to the court Saturday (Mar. 20) as the Saints host UNOH in another WHAC showdown. First serve is scheduled for 3:00 PM at the Sturrus Center.
