The #25 Aquinas women's volleyball team dropped a tough 3-1 final to crosstown rival #22 Cornerstone in the WHAC Championship match on Saturday afternoon (Apr. 10). AQ took the first set before the home Golden Eagles responded by winning the next three sets to claim the tournament title. Cornerstone was victorious by scores of 21-25, 25-22, 25-17, and 25-20.
Saturday's match was a showdown of the top two seeds in the conference tournament. With the result, top-seed Cornerstone improves to 23-3 on the season, while second-seed Aquinas is now 21-3 overall. All three of the Saints' losses this year came against their crosstown rivals.
Despite the four-set win for the Golden Eagles, the stats were extremely close and some categories were in AQ's favor. Aquinas held a 49-41 advantage in kills, led 45-37 in assists and 87-83 in digs. Cornerstone (.120) hit better than the Saints (.103) and held a 9-3 edge in aces, while owning a large 12-4 advantage in total blocks.
A pair of AQ senior hitters recorded double-doubles, as
Payton Klein notched 15 kills and 15 digs, while
Kylie Christensen totaled 14 kills and 13 digs. Setter
Kali Crawford also posted a 42-assist, 11-dig double-double.
Meredith Kraus put away eight kills, while
Samee Teachworth and
Emily Jones each tallied five kills and two blocks apiece.
Adrien Yondo picked up a team-best 20 digs and
Sam VanHouten recorded 10 pickups, while
Kenzi Dobosiewicz added nine digs.
After a 17-17 tie in the first set, the Saints scored three straight points on a CU error and kills from Klein and Christensen for the 20-17 edge. Cornerstone tallied two points in a row, but Klein tallied back-to-back kills for the 22-19 lead. A Teachworth-Klein combined block and a Jones kill finished the set, 25-21.
The Saints jumped to a 7-3 lead in set two before Cornerstone rallied to tie the score at 12-12 and went on a 6-2 run to open the 18-14 edge. Aquinas pulled within a point a 20-19 on kills from Christensen and Klein and then tied the score at 21-all on consecutive kills from Klein. Cornerstone, however, ran off four of the next five points, winning the set 25-22 on a service ace to tie the match at 1-1.
CU used that momentum to open an 11-2 lead in the third set and would hold Aquinas off for the remainder of the stanza, winning the most lopsided set of the match, 25-17.
Set four saw Aquinas lead 6-3 after a kill and ace from Klein and a Jones kill. The score was tied 12-12 before Cornerstone ran off five straight points for the 17-12 lead. AQ responded with a 6-0 run that featured four CU errors, a Klein ace, and a Christensen kill for the 18-17 edge. The Golden Eagles bounced back with the next four points and a 21-18 lead. After a Christensen kill made it 21-19, Cornerstone scored four of the final five points to take the set and match.
With its runner-up finish, Aquinas has earned an automatic bid to the NAIA National Tournament and will learn its postseason fate in the coming days.
