The Aquinas women's volleyball team lost for the first time in seven matches, as visiting Cornerstone earned a 3-0 rivalry victory over the Saints on Wednesday night (Sept. 15) in the Sturrus Center. CU captured close wins in each of the first two sets before pulling away in set three to notch the WHAC win, 27-25, 25-23, and 25-16.
AQ entered the match with six straight victories, including four 3-0 sweeps in that stretch. The loss snaps the winning streak and the Saints fall to 9-6 on the season and 1-1 in WHAC action. It was Cornerstone's league opener, so the Golden Eagles move to 6-8 overall and 1-0 in conference play.
The stats were mostly even between the crosstown rivals. Both teams put down 37 kills, but Cornerstone (.271, 11 errors) was the more efficient team than Aquinas (.160, 20 errors) on Wednesday. Each team also picked up 46 digs, but the Golden Eagles held advantages in blocks (9-3), aces (5-3), and assists (36-31).
CU led 9-3 in the opening set before Aquinas ran off seven straight points behind the serving of
Kenzi Dobosiewicz to take a 10-9 edge. The set would be back and forth, with Cornerstone holding set point at 24-21. AQ scored three straight points, with kills from
Abbi Perkins and
Abbie Harpenau tying the score at 24-all. The Golden Eagles closed the frame with a kill and an ace for the 27-25 win.
Set two was full of short runs until Cornerstone went in front 16-11 on the strength of six straight points. Aquinas rallied back and used a 5-0 run to pull within a point at 21-20 thanks to a pair of kills from both Perkins and
Meredith Kraus. The Saints could not pull even, however, as Cornerstone led 24-23 and used a final kill to take the 25-23 victory.
Another 6-0 run by the Golden Eagles in the middle of set three allowed the visitors to begin pulling away, moving ahead 17-10. CU would record 12 kills and one error in the final set to claim the road sweep.
Perkins led all players with a match-high 14 kills and a terrific .522 hitting percentage. She added three digs and a pair of block assists. Kraus recorded eight kills and eight digs, to go with a pair of rejections. Jones, the NAIA National Defender of the Week, added five kills and a block assist, while Harpenau supplied four kills and two digs.
Chloe Mitchell handed out 26 assists, along with five digs and three kills.
Adrien Yondo picked up a match-high tying 11 digs, while Dobosiewicz posted nine digs and two of AQ's three aces.
The Saints return to action on Saturday (Sept. 18), hosting Indiana Tech at 1:00 p.m. to kick off Homecoming weekend.
