Grand Rapids, Mich. – The AQ women's volleyball team took on more tough competition today (Sept. 10) to wrap up the 2022 AQ/Cornerstone Invite. Yesterday, the (RV) IU-Kokomo Cougars (8-3) beat (RV) Saint Xavier University by a score of 3-1 and then followed that up with a 0-3 loss to Cornerstone. This morning, IUK went head-to-head with Judson and picked up a quick 3-0 sweep prior to its match with Aquinas.

Likewise, Aquinas split its matches yesterday with a 3-2 victory over Judson and a 1-3 loss to #12 Bellevue. Both sides entered the match looking to pick up a big win, but it would be the Cougars of Kokomo that would come out on top with a 3-1 victory. IU-Kokomo won by set scores of 23-25, 25-19, 26-25, and 25-14.

AQ now moves to 3-10 on the season with its conference schedule on near horizon.

The first set began with a Cougar lead until the Saints pulled together a rally early on in the first set to erase a five-point deficit. IU-Kokomo took a timeout to stop the Aquinas momentum, but the Saints managed to hold a slim lead throughout the set. Abbi Perkins continues to impress as she spiked down AQ's last four points of the set, giving the Saints a huge 25-23 first set victory. Perkins wrapped up the first set with seven kills.

Set number two began similarly to the first with IUK taking the early advantage. Aquinas slowly clawed its way back into the set, narrowing the score. AQ narrowed the deficit all the way down to two points with the score at 19-17. However, Kokomo would earn the next point, stopping the AQ surge and giving them a 20-17 lead. That point would turn the momentum and Kokomo would close out the set with a 25-19 victory, bringing the match score to 1-1.

The Kokomo momentum continued into the third set with the Cougars immediately running out to an 8-3 lead, forcing Aquinas to use its first timeout early. The timeout would do wonders for the Saints as they would take seven of the next ten points to tie the set at 10. After some additional battling, AQ took its first lead of the set with a score of 15-14.

However, Kokomo would rally back and regain the lead late into the set. With a 21-18 advantage, AQ took its last timeout in an attempt to bring the Saints back into the set. The timeout would do just that, as another Samee Teachworth serving rally leveled the set at 21s. Teachworth's aggressive serve would get AQ another two point for her second five-point rally of the set. With a 24-22 Aquinas lead, Kokomo took its second timeout in an attempt to turn the tides. The Cougars would do just that, scoring the next four points and winning the set 26-24.

The fourth set began neck-and-neck, but an 8-0 run from the visiting side brought the score to 13-7 in favor of Kokomo and forced AQ to use its first timeout early on in the set. The time out was too little, too late as IUK ran with all the momentum and won the fourth set 25-14, giving them a 3-1 match victory.

The Cougars led in every statistical category, leading in kills (49-46), hitting percentage (.163-.129), assists (45-43), aces (7-6), digs (57-50), and blocks (13-12).

Perkins led the team in kills once again with 16 (.220). She also contributed an ace, four digs, and five block assists.

Cassie Sustrich had a solid match as the setter, putting up 38 assists, two kills, one ace, 10 digs, and two block assists.

Brooke Nicholson was again the team leader in blocks with one solo block and seven block assists. She also had 8 kills (.200) and a dig on her stat line.

Aquinas opens up conference play this upcoming week with a road matchup against Rochester on Wednesday (Sept. 14). The match is set to kick off at 7:00 PM.