Grand Rapids, Mich. – The Saints played their last home match of the regular season tonight (Nov. 2) while also honoring their seniors at Senior Night. Aquinas entered the match on a two-match losing streak and were looking to snap that streak against the Rochester Warriors. AQ would do just that, scoring a big 3-1 win on senior night. The Saints won by set scores of 25-18, 25-17, 22-25, and 25-13.
Aquinas now sits at 12-21 on the season with an 8-11 WHAC record. Rochester falls to 3-28 on the season with a 1-19 WHAC record.
The Saints started the first set off hot, going on a 6-0 run with
Jennifer Johnson serving. Rochester would get two points back, but then AQ would score three of the next four points to take a 9-3 lead and force Rochester to use its first timeout.
Rochester was never able to take a foothold in the first set as AQ could cruise to a 25-18 first set victory.
Brooke Nicholson and
Abbi Perkins both put down five kills in the set, leading the Aquinas attack.
The Warriors would start off the second set with a three-point run, but AQ would respond with a six-point run to take the lead right back. The two sides would trade the next six points and Rochester would use its first timeout with the score at 9-6 in favor of the Saints.
Once again, RU would struggle to get any momentum going in the second set following the timeout. The Warriors would narrow the lead to just two points with the score at 18-16, but AQ would quickly respond with a 3-0 run to extend the lead to five points and force RU to use its second timeout. However, the timeout would not stop the Aquinas momentum as the Saints would score four of the next five points to end the set with a 25-17 victory.
Perkins and Nicholson would lead the Saints offensive again, combining for nine kills during the second set.
The third set would be much closer between the two sides with Rochester holding a narrow lead early on. Perkins continued to be the driving force on offense as she would score AQ's first four points with four kills. The two teams would continue to go back-and-forth, but AQ would take its first lead of the set with the score at 10-9.
Aquinas would extend its lead to four points with the score at 17-13, but the Warriors would begin to mount a comeback. RU would slowly comeback and eventually tie the third set at 21-21. A series of AQ timeouts would not deter the Warriors as they would take four of the next five points to take the third set 25-22.
Set number four started with a 4-1 lead for the Saints, but the Warriors would find their way back into the set early with a quick response. With the score tied at 10, AQ would finally break away with a 5-1 run, forcing RU to use its first timeout with the score at 15-11. The timeout wouldn't slow down AQ as Rochester would have to use its second timeout after a 4-1 run from AQ. The Warriors would use their second timeout after Perkins set her career-high of 19 kills.
The fourth set would be all Aquinas as a 6-1 run would end the set 25-13. In total, Aquinas would end the fourth set with a 15-3 run.
AQ dominated the statistical comparison, leading in kills (57-30), hitting percentage (.357-.091), assists (52-27), aces (12-11), digs (39-37), and blocks (9-4).
Perkins, Nicholson, and
Samee Teachworth continued to be the driving force on offense this season.
Perkins set a career-high in kills with 19 (.552) during the match. She would also add a dig and three block assists in the winning effort.
Nicholson continued to be dominant both offensively and defensively as she put down 13 kills (.440) while also having a solo block and six block assists.
Teachworth was the third Saints to hit double-digit kills with 10 (.316) on the match. She would also contribute defensively with two block assists.
Cassie Sustrich had a great match as the setter, picking up four kills (.571), assisting 47 more, and helping defensively with six digs.
Johnson would lead the team with six aces tonight, also adding an assist and eight digs.
The Saints will play their last match of the regular season this Saturday (Nov. 5) with a road matchup against the Lawrence Tech Blue Devils. The match is set to begin at 1:00 PM in Southfield, Michigan.
