The Aquinas women's volleyball team prevailed in a back-and-forth five-set battle with visiting Lourdes on Saturday afternoon (Sept. 17) in the Sturrus Center. Playing in front of a good crowd on Homecoming, the Saints took victories in sets two and three were tied 8-8 in the fifth frame before rattling off the final seven points to grab the 15-8 triumph.
 
It was the fifth five-set match for AQ this season; the Saints have won the last two such contests. The final set scores saw Aquinas outlast the Grey Wolves 22-25, 25-19, 25-19, 19-25, and 15-8. With the win, the Saints are 5-10 on the year, but 2-0 in WHAC play. Lourdes drops to 6-5 overall and 2-2 in league action.
 
Aquinas was dominant at the net, recording 17.5 total blocks, while Lourdes managed just six rejections. AQ owned a 53-42 edge in kills and hit .191 to the Gray Wolves' .151 percentage. The Saints also held slim advantages in aces (11-9) and digs (53-52), while leading 46-35 in assists.
 
A tight first set saw each team hold leads throughout, with Aquinas tying the score at 21-21 on a Brooke Nicholson kill. Lourdes ran off four of the final five points to steal the 25-22 opening set win. The next three sets all ended with 25-19 scores, as the Saints won frames two and three.
 
AQ led 8-2 and 12-4 in set two before Lourdes rallied within a few points later in the frame. Kills from Abbi Perkins, Samee Teachworth, and Ryleigh Blough closed out the 25-19 win and tied the match at 1-1. The Saints again finished strong in the third set – the score was tied 18-18 before Blough put down a kill and combined with Teachworth on a combined rejection to begin the set-ending 7-1 run. Blough and Teachworth teamed up on another block at 24-19 and Blough and Jenna Lee finished the frame with a block for the 25-19 win.
 
Lourdes used a big run in the middle of set four to push from a 12-7 advantage to 19-7. AQ responded and pulled within as close as four points at 23-19, but the Gray Wolves tallied consecutive points to push the match to the fifth set.
 
The fifth set was tied at points 1, 2, 5, and 8, with neither team leading by more than two points at any time. Tied 8-8, the Saints took control. Lee sandwiched a pair of kills around a combined block with Nicholson to put Aquinas in front 11-8 and prompt a Lourdes timeout. From there, Teachworth supplied a solo block, Lee and Nicholson tag-teamed another block together, and finally Nicholson and Teachworth put down back-to-back kills to cap off the match-ending 7-0 run.
 
Teachworth put down a match-best 16 kills to go with seven block assists and six digs. Lee provided 11 kills and seven block assists, while Blough added a match-high eight block assists to go with her eight kills.
 
Nicholson also provided eight kills, along with seven block assists, and seven digs. Perkins was the fifth Saint to notch at least seven kills, as she put away seven kills and chipped in three digs. Cassie Sustrich delivered 38 assists, six digs, and a pair of blocks. Sustrich, Julia Schweihofer, and Jennifer Johnson each served three aces apiece; Johnson also picked up a team-high 16 digs and five assists. Kaylin Poole added two aces and five digs. 
 
Homecoming weekend continues for the Saints on Sunday (Sept. 18), as AQ hosts Siena Heights at 1:00 p.m. in the Sturrus Center.