The #25 Aquinas women's volleyball team earned a quick 3-0 sweep over visiting Lourdes in the opening round of the WHAC Tournament on Tuesday (Apr. 6) in the Sturrus Center. Second-seeded AQ pulled out a close second set and used that momentum to put away the seventh-seeded Gray Wolves to advance to the WHAC semifinals on Friday (Apr. 9).
With the 25-17, 25-21, 25-14 quarterfinal win, the Saints move to 20-2 on the season, while Lourdes' season ends with a 5-13 mark. AQ will match up with third-seed Madonna in Friday's semifinals, as the Saints and Crusaders will square off at 5:00 p.m. The WHAC semifinals and finals will be held at top-seeded Cornerstone, with the conference championship match set for 1:00 p.m. on Saturday (Apr. 10).
Aquinas did not have much trouble with the Gray Wolves in the first or third sets, leading wire-to-wire in both frames. Lourdes did put up a strong fight in the second set, leading 20-19 before the Saints bounced back to win 25-21.
AQ led in every statistical category and held a large advantage in hitting percentage, as the Saints hit .243 to just .087 for Lourdes. Aquinas was also on top in kills (39-30), assists (38-28), aces (8-4), digs (59-51), and total blocks (6.5 to 3.0).
Kylie Christensen posted a match-best 11 kills and hit .290, while adding six digs. Meredith Kraus notched nine kills and three block assists, while Emily Jones put down eight kills and hit .312, along with three block assists.
Payton Klein totaled nine digs, six kills, and three service aces, while Adrien Yondo posted a team-best 11 digs. Kali Crawford neared a double-double with 32 kills, nine digs, three kills, and two block assists. Sam VanHouten provided 10 digs, Samee Teachworth had a hand in three blocks (one solo rejection), and Jenna Berens served up three aces along with four digs.
The first set saw AQ hold a slight 17-16 edge before a run of a Klein kill, a Yondo ace, and a Jones kill made it 20-16. After Lourdes made it 20-17 with a kill of its own, Klein posted two aces and a kill before Kraus finished the set with a kill for the 25-17 victory.
In set two, Lourdes moved in front 20-19 after a late five-point run. A Gray Wolves serving error gave AQ the ball and the Saints scored four points in a row on a Crawford kill, a Teachworth-Crawford combined block, an ace from Olivia Martinelli, and a kill from Christensen. Aquinas won 25-21 after a Lourdes error to pull out a set that featured eight ties and saw seven lead changes.
The Saints used that momentum to jump out to an 11-2 advantage in set three with back-to-back kills form Jones and Christensen and consecutive aces from Berens. Later in the set, two more kills from Christensen and another Berens ace made it 23-11 in AQ's favor. Christensen and Crawford finished the match with back-to-back kills for the team's 20th win of the year.
Aquinas beat Friday's opponent Madonna twice in the regular season, winning 3-1 on Feb. 9 in Livonia before a 3-0 sweep on Mar. 9 in Grand Rapids.
