The Aquinas women's volleyball team put together arguably its best all-around performance of the season on Tuesday (Mar. 9) inside the Sturrus Center, as the Saints swept visiting Madonna, 3-0. AQ hit a remarkable .387 with 49 kills and only six errors, topping the #19 Crusaders by scores of 25-19, 25-21, and 25-12.
Perennially two of the top teams in the conference, Aquinas earns the regular season sweep over Madonna, which was ranked #19 in both meetings. AQ earned a 3-1 victory on Feb. 9 in Livonia before taking all three sets on Tuesday.
With the victory, the Saints stay on top of the WHAC standings with a 9-1 league record. Overall, Aquinas is 16-1 on the year and has won 13 straight matches. Madonna drops to 9-4 on the season and 7-4 in league play.
While the Aquinas offense was unstoppable on Tuesday, the defense was impressive as well. The Saints owned a slight 52-51 edge in digs over Madonna, but registered a 9-4 advantage in total blocks. AQ also limited the Crusaders to just a .152 hitting percentage (33 kills, 16 errors) and led in aces, 6-5.
Emily Jones, Jackie Rozell, and Payton Klein all reached double-digit kills and committed only two combined errors. Jones notched 12 kills with only one error for a .647 hitting percentage, while adding seven total blocks. Rozell connected on 12 swings and just one error for a .500 mark, picking up 12 digs in the process for another double-double.
Klein put down 11 kills without an error, hitting .314 in the win. Her 11th and final kill of the match was the 1,000th kill of her career. She became the 11th player since 1998 to reach the 1,000 kill plateau, a feat that classmate Kylie Christensen also achieved earlier this season.
Christensen secured eight kills herself on Tuesday. Kali Crawford recorded a 41-assist, 16-dig double-double, while Kenzi Dobosiewicz and Adrien Yondo each picked up seven digs in the win.
AQ pulled away late in set one to win 25-19 and scored the final two points of set two on a Klein kill and a Klein-Samee Teachworth combined block for the 25-21 victory.
The Saints went up 10-3 on a Dobosiewicz ace, a Rozell-Jones rejection, and a Rozell kill to take complete control. After a Christensen kill, Klein followed up with her 1,000th kill to make it 18-8. Head coach Ryan Campbell immediately called a timeout, allowing Klein to be honored in front of the small, but appreciative crowd in the Sturrus Center.
Aquinas scored six of the last seven points with kills from Crawford, Christensen, and Jones to win the match in dominating fashion.
The Saints are on the road twice this weekend: AQ plays at Concordia on Friday (Mar. 12) and at Lawrence Tech on Saturday (Mar. 13).
