The Aquinas women's volleyball team brought the brooms out on Wednesday (Sept. 27) inside the Sturrus Center, sweeping a pair of opponents in quick fashion. AQ made quick work of Grace Christian in a non-conference sweep before the Saints moved to 6-1 in WHAC play with a 3-0 win over Michigan-Dearborn in the nightcap.
With the victories, Aquinas improves to 17-4 on the season. The Saints have five sweeps in their six WHAC wins and 10 total 3-0 victories in 2023. Grace Christian dropped to 5-6 overall, while UM-Dearborn fell to 8-9 on the year and 4-4 in league action.
Aquinas 3, Grace Christian 0 (25-13, 25-16, 25-17)
The Saints had little trouble with the visiting Tigers in a non-conference afternoon matchup. AQ was the far more dominant team offensively, hitting .284 with 42 kills. Grace Christian totaled more errors (20) than kills (16), resulting in a -.049 hitting percentage. Aquinas nearly doubled GCU in aces (9-5) and blocks (7-4), while posting advantages in digs (43-33) and assists (38-14).
Despite those discrepancies, it was an 8-8 tie in the opening set. The Saints scored the next nine points behind strong serving of
Taylor Reha and kills from
Angelia Cutts,
Jeralyn Hoppes (three) and
Kaylin Poole. AQ closed the set at 25-13 as
Ryleigh Blough sandwiched a kill and an ace around a
Reagan Doctor-
Melissa Beachnau combined block.
An 8-1 run early in the second set put the Saints in front 10-2.
Kami Morse served an ace during the surge, while Doctor (two), Cutts, and
Tess Griffith all contributed kills. The Tigers kept things close at 17-14, but Aquinas closed things out by scoring eight of the final 10 points, including two late kills from Doctor and another from Reha.
Set three mirrored set two with a 16-14 score midway through the frame. Kills from Reha, Blough, Beachnau (three), and Hoppes were capped off by a Reha service ace to end the match in AQ's ninth sweep of the year.
Griffith led the way with eight kills and hit .375, while Doctor put down seven kills in 11 swings for a .636 attack clip. Blough, Hoppes, and Beachnau all collected six kills, with Blough taking part in four blocks and Beachnau and Doctor participating in three rejections.
Reha neared a double-double with 19 assists and seven digs, to go with two aces.
Cassie Sustrich posted 17 assists and five digs. Morse served up four of AQ's nine aces and added 10 digs. Poole also picked up 10 digs, while Reha added seven pickups.
Aquinas 3, UM-Dearborn 0 (25-16, 25-20, 25-17)
An early 6-2 lead for the Saints was extended to 11-5 after a pair of
Chloe Hogarth service aces.
Jordyn Carlyle added consecutive aces later in the frame to give AQ a 15-10 advantage. It was 18-13 when
Abbi Perkins and
Michelle Domey registered back-to-back kills and give the Saints an insurmountable lead. Aquinas hit. 240 with 11 kills and four aces in the set, while UMD hit -.042 with fewer kills (six) than errors (seven).
The Wolverines flipped the script and jumped ahead 6-2 in the second set and increased the advantage to 13-7. Kills from Perkins,
Samee Teachworth, and Domey were followed by a
Julia Schweihofer ace to bring AQ within a point at 14-13. UM-Dearborn still held an 18-16 edge when the Saints scored the next five points, which featured a
Cece Pelak ace and a
Jenna Lee kill. Leading 22-20, Lee put down another kill and the Wolverines made a pair of errors to close the set.
Aquinas scored five straight points after an 8-8 tie, with Teachworth's solo block and another Pelak ace highlighting the 5-0 run. The Saints would keep a comfortable lead from that point and finish off the match with kills from Teachworth, Pelak, and Lee. AQ is now 9-2 at home with six sweeps.
The Saints recorded a 34-25 edge in kills and a wide 10-1 margin in service aces. Both teams recorded 35 digs.
Perkins led all players with nine kills, Domey added eight, and Lee contributed seven. Teachworth provided six kills and four blocks, while Domey was a part of three block assists.
Lydia Harper dished out 30 assists to go with six digs, while Carlyle and Hogarth led AQ with seven digs each.
Jennifer Johnson picked up six digs, as well. Schweihofer, Pelak, Harper, Hogarth, and Carlyle all served two aces apiece.
Aquinas heads on the road for three consecutive WHAC contests, starting this Friday (Sept. 29) at 7:00 p.m. against Madonna.
