Fort Wayne, Ind. - Over the last 17 matches, the Aquinas women's volleyball team has lost just twice. Unfortunately, both defeats have come at the hands of Indiana Tech, with the Warriors earning a hard-fought sweep on Friday night in Fort Wayne. IT took the opening two sets by the minimum two points before closing out the three-set victory on its home floor.
Friday's night contest was a matchup of the league's top teams, with Indiana Tech handing Aquinas only its second WHAC defeat of the year. Despite the 3-0 final, the match was tightly contested, as the final set scores in IT's favor were 26-24, 25-23, 25-10.
Indiana Tech (23-3) stays atop the standings with a 14-1 record. The Saints (24-5) are 12-2 in conference play. Since Sept. 9, AQ is 15-2. The Warriors swept Aquinas in Grand Rapids on Sept. 23 and earned the regular season sweep on Friday night.
AQ led 6-3 in the opening set after a combined block from
Samee Teachworth and
Abbi Perkins, plus a
Julia Schweihofer service ace. The lead grew to 16-12 after two Teachworth kills and another from
Cece Pelak. Indiana Tech responded with a 7-1 run and eventually led 21-18. Aquinas tied the score at 21-21 on consecutive kills from
Lauren Chioini and Perkins and a
Lydia Harper ace.
Tied at points 22 and 23, Schweihofer served another ace to give AQ set point at 24-23. Indiana Tech staved off set point with a kill to tie the score again at 24-all. A Warrior kill and block allowed IT to escape with the two-point win.
In set two, Chioini and Perkins posted back-to-back kills, then teamed for a block to tie the score at 10-10. Indiana Tech used a 6-2 run to open a 19-15 advantage before Aquinas pulled within a point thanks to a Teachworth-
Jenna Lee rejection and a
Jordyn Carlyle ace. The Warriors looked in control at 23-19, but two IT hitting errors and a Pelak kill made it 23-22. Chioini's kill made it 24-23 and gave AQ the serve, but an error gave Indiana Tech a 2-0 lead in the match.
The Warriors rode that momentum into the third set, scoring the first nine points of the frame and eventually leading 13-3. Indiana Tech closed out the match with the only lopsided set all night.
Overall, the Warriors hit .238 with 39 kills, while Aquinas totaled 28 kills with a .117 hitting percentage. AQ held a 7-2 edge in blocks and neared Indiana Tech in digs, trailing 48-45. IT posted a 8-5 lead in aces and a 34-28 edge in assists.
Teachworth and Perkins each contributed seven kills in 19 attempts; Teachworth hit .368 without an error and added three blocks. Perkins posted four blocks and four digs. Pelak chipped in six kills and five digs.
Chioini supplied five kills in 10 swings and four block assists. Harper tallied 25 assists and nine digs, while Carlyle also picked up nine digs.
Chloe Hogarth added seven digs, while Schweihofer served two aces.
AQ has a bit of an unusual doubleheader on Saturday (Oct. 21) in Lima, Ohio. The Saints face UNOH at noon in a conference contest before taking on Cumberland in a non-league tilt afterwards. It is AQ's final non-league match of the regular season.
