Grand Rapids, Mich. – AQ had a busy day today (Aug. 27) with two matches against (RV) Bethel (2-1) and IU-South Bend (1-6) to wrap up the 2022 Aquinas Class. Aquinas started the season yesterday (Aug. 26) with two nail biting losses and were looking to rebound from that start today.
The young Aquinas team couldn't quite keep up with a strong and experienced Bethel side in the first match of the day, falling 3-1. AQ then hopped out to an early 2-0 lead against IU-South Bend, but the Titans would come back and win the match 3-2, moving AQ to an early 0-4 start to the season.
Match 1: Aquinas 1, Bethel 3. Set scores: 25-18, 12-25, 22-25, 11-25.
AQ got an early jump on the Pilots in set one, as the Saints raced out to a 12-6 lead. A pair of aces from
Cassie Sustrich and
Jennifer Johnson, along with two kills from
Brooke Nicholson would help the Saints to that early advantage. Nicholson would get four more kills throughout the set to give her a total of six in set number one. Bethel continuously made errors on its side of the net throughout the set and AQ would take the first set 25-18.
The Pilots would firmly cement themselves back into the match with a huge 25-12 victory in the second set as several big runs never allowed the Saints the chance to get back into the set. The third set was much more competitive and AQ appeared to be in control of the set with a 22-19 lead. However, Bethel would step up in a big way and score the next six points to win the set 25-22.
Aquinas was unable to string any runs together in the fourth set and BU capitalized on that, winning the fourth set 25-11 and taking the match 3-1.
Nicholson was the team leader in kills for this match with 10 on a .238 hitting percentage. She also had one assist, one dig, and three block assists.
Jenna Lee was the team leader in digs with seven, while also contributing six kills and a block assist.
Match 2: Aquinas 2, IU-South Bend 3. Set Scores: 25-19, 26-24, 16-25, 16-25, 8-15.
The Saints managed to pull off a much-needed 25-19 victory in the first set as they took the lead early and never let go of it. The second set was much closer, but the hometown team managed to pull through with a 26-24 set win to go up 2-0 on the match. A big set from
Claire Phillips, along with a late kill from Nicholson helped push the Saints over the top.
Despite the deficit, the Titans never backed down and took the third and fourth sets by scores of 25-16 to force a pivotal fifth set.
With all the momentum, IUSB got out to an early 4-1 lead in the fifth set. The Saints managed to claw back into the set with just a 9-8 advantage in favor of the Titans. That eighth point scored by Lee would be the last one for the Saints as IU-South Bend would score the next six points to close out the match.
Phillips set a career-high in kills this match with a team-leading 10 kills (.250). She also contributed two digs and two block assists.
Nicholson and Lee each finished the match with nine kills. Nicholson also had an ace, two solo blocks, and two block assists to lead the team in blocks for the match.
The Saints busy weekend continues with two more matches tonight (Aug. 27). One against Indiana University-Northwest and another against Grace Christian. Both matches are being hosted by Grace Christian.
