Grand Rapids, Mich. — In front of an electric home crowd on 90s Night, the Aquinas women's volleyball team pushed No. 23-ranked Cornerstone to the brink in the first two sets but ultimately couldn't pull off the upset against their in-city rival.

The Golden Eagles (13-3, 4-0 WHAC) swept the Saints (5-12, 2-2 WHAC) on Wednesday evening (Sept. 21) by scores of 25-23, 25-22, 25-17.

AQ opened the evening with a ceremonial first serve by Tik Tok sensation Frankie LePenna in front of well over 1,000 spectators inside the Sturrus Center. But, once the match started, Cornerstone scored the first three points of the first frame to set the tone early. Aquinas answered back with five straight points to get the crowd going again.

After converting on a couple broken plays, the Golden Eagles tied the first set at 22-22. A service ace by CU setter Aubrey Lenz and Aquinas' attack got the Cornerstone to set point. Lenz then had a service error, but CU got out of the set with a 25-23 win on a kill from Kathryn Detweiler.

Cornerstone jumped out to a 11-5 lead in the middle frame. The Saints recovered with a 5-0 run in the middle of the frame to pull within a point at 16-15. In that stretch, Brooke Nicholson provided a kill and Jennifer Johnson had an ace and the Golden Eagles proved three attack errors.

A tag-team block by Claire Phillips and Samee Teachworth put Aquinas ahead 19-18. The score was last tied at 21-21, before Cornerstone scored four of the last five points to take a 2-0 lead.

The Golden Eagles used a 5-0 run to grab control of the third set early on, taking a 10-5 lead. AQ never got within points for the rest of the frame as Cornerstone coasted to its 13-straight victory.

Abbi Perkins lead the Saints with a match-high 11 kills on a .222 hitting percentage. AQ hit .149 as a team compared to CU's .240 attack percentage. Olivia Keelean paced the Golden Eagles with 10 kills on a match-high 30 attempts.

Aquinas libero Jennifer Johnson collected a match-high 18 digs.

The Saints are back in action at 7 p.m. Friday (Sept. 23) at UNOH in Lima, Ohio.