Adrian, Mich. — The Aquinas women's volleyball team needed all five sets on Friday night (Sept. 15) to knock off their same name counterparts, the Saints from Siena Heights. The (RV) Aquinas Saints won their first conference road test of the season by set scores of 23-25, 25-14, 25-20, 19-25, 15-11.
AQ improved to 12-3 overall (2-0 WHAC) and matched its win total from a season ago with still 22 matches left to go in the regular season. Siena Heights dropped to 8-4 overall (0-3 WHAC).
The opening set of the back-and-forth match looked to be going AQ's way when the Saints used a 8-2 run to grab a 17-12 lead. However, Siena Heights responded with a 4-0 run followed by a 5-0 run to jump out in front 22-20. A service error followed by an ace by
Lydia Harper allowed AQ to get back within a point at 24-23, but Taylor Wegener put down a kill on set point to give SHU the first frame by the minimum, 25-23.
The second set shifted drastically halfway through. With Aquinas leading 14-12, the maroon Saints found another gear to close out the set with a 11-2 swing.
Peyton Goschka,
Michelle Domey,
Samee Teachworth and
Cece Pelak all had kills in the spurt.
Julia Schweihofer picked up a pair of back-to-back aces for AQ's 23rd and 24th points.
Aquinas also went on to win the middle frame with a later push. AQ scored five out of the last six points to take a 25-20 set win and take a 2-1 lead in the match. This time Schweihofer had three aces in a row for AQ's 22nd, 23rd and 24th points. She finished with seven aces in the match — a new career-high and just two shy of AQ's single-game record for a five-set match that is currently held by Carrie Domalgalski against Northwood (Fla.) on Sept. 20, 2002.
Siena Heights didn't let AQ close out the match in the fourth set. SHU held Aquinas to its lowest set hitting percentage (.108) in the frame while having its highest of the match (.333). Siena Heights scored 21 out of its 25 points via kills. With that much firepower, Siena Heights forced a fifth set with a 25-19 outcome.
Tied at 3-3 in the all-decisive fifth frame, AQ got some separation with a crucial 5-1 run. The Saints scored their five points on two kills from
Abbi Perkins and three from Domey. And yet, Siena Heights bounced back with a 4-0 run to tie the score against at 9-9.
As it did all match, momentum then swung the other way. Aquinas closed out the contest with a 6-2 run with everything coming together at the right time. Teachworth got things started with a kill. Schweihofer delivered with another ace.
Jenna Lee and
Lauren Chioini put up a key block. Lee then took over by scoring AQ's last three points with kills to secure the 3-2 road victory.
Aquinas had three players reach double-digit kills: Teachworth (13), Domey (13) and Lee (12). Harper provided 41 assists and 15 digs. Libero
Jordyn Carlyle added 20 digs for a new season-high for the senior. Chioni led AQ with five total blocks. The Saints collected a season-high 78 digs as a team.
Aquinas now has a quick turnaround with a 2 p.m. match in Sylvania, Ohio, on Saturday (Sept. 16) against Lourdes. The Gray Wolves upset Cornerstone on Friday (Sept. 15) in five sets to pick up their first win this season (1-7). Lourdes had lost three other five-set matches earlier this season and reversed the trend to knock off the Golden Eagles.
