The Aquinas women's volleyball squad split a pair of decisions on Friday (Aug. 20) at the Hansen Athletic Center auxiliary gym. AQ notched a big win in it's first match of the season, defeating St. Francis 3-1. However, in their second match of the night, the Saints lost a heartbreaker 3-2 to Ave Maria. In a match that could not have been any closer, the Gyrenes and the Saints alternated set victories with four sets ending within three points.

The Saints took the first two sets over St. Francis followed by a fourth set victory with respective scores of 25-19, 25-17, 19-25, and 25-17. Ave Maria managed to pull out the win against the Saints in, potentially, one of the most tightly contested matches the Saints will play this season. AQ fell in a five-set score of 22-25, 25-18, 22-25, 25-23, and 14-16.  

In the opener against St. Francis, Aquinas held the edge statistically in nearly every category. The Saints led in kills (45-41), hitting percentage (.316-.105), assists (43-37), aces (6-4), digs (31-30), and blocks (10-5). With a massive advantage in hitting percentage, AQ was able to comfortably win three of four sets.

Meredith Kraus led the Saints with 11 kills in the match with a whopping .381 hitting percentage, while adding five digs and four block assists. Emily Jones added another nine kills with four block assists, while Chloe Mitchell kept busy totaling 38 assists, four kills, five digs, and a block assist.

Jackie Rozell, Abbie Harpenau, and Abbi Perkins posted eight, seven, and six kills respectively. Rozell led the Saints with two serving aces and nine digs. It was a well-rounded team effort for the Saints win.

Against Ave Maria, Rozell tied her career-best 25 kills with an impressive hitting percentage of .365. She added another seven digs and a couple of blocks to the team's effort. Mitchell had another impressive performance with 52 assists, seven digs, and seven kills. Jones also had a great match with 15 kills and a hitting percentage of .313.

Most statistical categories were extremely close. Aquinas edged Ave Maria in kills (67-57), assists (63-54), aces (10-5), blocks (9-7) and digs (60-58).

Aquinas plays two more matches tomorrow (Aug. 21) to wrap-up the Aquinas/Cornerstone Classic. AQ's first match will be against St. Louis Pharmacy at 1:00 PM, followed by their matchup against Mount Vernon at 3:00 PM.