Grand Rapids, Mich. – The Saints returned to their home court again today (Oct. 1) to take on the Concordia Cardinals in a WHAC matchup. The two sides would trade sets until Concordia took the fifth and final set to win the match 3-2. Concordia would pick up the victory with set scores of 25-22, 17-25, 15-21, 18-25, and 15-8.
Aquinas now moves to a 6-16 record on the season with a 3-6 WHAC record.
The first set started with each side trading points, but AQ was quickly able to generate a couple of smaller runs. The Aquinas lead eventually grew to four with a 14-10 advantage, leading to a Concordia timeout. The home side would generate a few more points, but a big run from CUAA would give them an 18-17 lead, its first since the beginning of the set. The two sides would continue to trade points, leading to a 21-19 advantage in favor of the Cardinals. AQ would call timeout in an attempt to get back into the match.
Concordia continued to power on, resulting in Aquinas using its second timeout with the score at 23-20 in favor of the visiting side.
Abbi Perkins would do her best to get AQ back into the set with a couple of late kills, but Concordia would quickly end the set with a 25-22 first set victory. Perkins continues to shine in the early sets this year. She had seven kills with a .778 hitting percentage in the first set.
Aquinas jumped out to a quick lead in the second set, but Concordia would respond with a run of its own to narrow the score. A 4-0 run from the Saints would give them a 12-8 advantage and force CUAA to use its first timeout of the set.
Brooke Nicholson and
Samee Teachworth were the primary sources of offense for AQ early on.
The AQ run would continue all the way to a 15-8 score line. The Cardinals would attempt to get something going, but Aquinas cruised to a 25-17 victory in the second set. Nicholson had four kills in the set, bringing her match total to eight. Perkins added another five kills to her total, giving her 12 through two sets.
The third set starting in favor of the Saints again but, similarly to the second set, Concordia came back and held a 9-7 advantage early, forcing an AQ timeout. The timeout would work well for the home team as they would level the set at 14-14 off a huge kill from Nicholson, causing CUAA to use its first timeout. Likewise, the Concordia timeout worked wonders as the Cardinals would score the next four points, forcing AQ to use its last timeout to stop the momentum.
The timeout would fall short as the visiting team would grow its lead to 23-15. However, Aquinas mounted a late rally and narrowed CUAA's lead to just three points with at 24-21, causing Concordia to use its last timeout. The timeout would work as the Cardinals picked up the next point to take a 2-1 match lead.
Aquinas raced out to an early lead thanks to several blocks from the home side. Aquinas eventually grew the lead to six with a 12-6 advantage, forcing an early timeout from the Cardinals side. Both sides would trade a couple of runs, but AQ would still hold a 22-16 lead late in the fourth set. The visitors would use their second timeout of the set in an attempt to stop the Aquinas momentum. However, it would be too little too late for the Cardinals as Aquinas would win set four 25-18 and force a pivotal fifth set.
Samee Teachworth picked up two big kills and an ace early in the fifth set as the sides were tied at four points each. The Cardinals would turn the tides of the set as they scored the next four points to give the visiting side an 8-4 advantage, forcing an AQ timeout. The CUAA momentum would continue as its lead would extend to seven with a 12-5 advantage. The Saints would use their second timeout in an attempt to salvage the set. Each side would trade points until the end, giving CUAA a 15-8 fifth set victory and a 3-2 match win.
Aquinas would hold the statistical advantage in most categories, leading in kills (59-55), assists (55-48), aces (14-10), and blocks (12-9). Concordia had a higher hitting percentage (.254-.253) and had more digs (62-53).
Nicholson set a collegiate career high in kills today with 17 (.368), while also posting a solo block and three block assists.
Perkins was just behind Nicholson in total kills with 16 (.378). She also contributed an ace, a dig, and two block assists in the effort this afternoon.
Cassie Sustrich had 47 assists on the match along with four kills (.400), an ace, eight digs, and three block assists.
Julia Schweihofer got the start as the libero and played well, setting a career high in digs (19). She also had a kill, an assist, and two aces.
The Saints return to action this Wednesday (Oct. 4) for double header action. AQ will take on Great Lakes Christian at 4:00 PM and Lawrence Tech at 7:00 PM inside of the Sturrus Center.
