Fort Wayne, Ind. – The (RV) Aquinas women's volleyball team continued its dominant start to the season today (Aug. 24) at the Onset Invitational. AQ rolled past (RV) Talladega College in four sets to start the day before facing off against undefeated Grace College at 5:30 PM. Once again, Aquinas showed up in a dominant fashion to hand Grace its first loss of the season after a three-set sweep.

AQ is now 6-0 this season after an incredible first week of play. This is the first time the Saints have started a season with six consecutive wins since AQ began the 2016 season with a six-match winning streak.

What may be more impressive than the six-match winning streak to kick off the season is the way that the Saints are winning. At the Onset Invitational, AQ has beaten receiving-votes Marian, No. 16-ranked Indiana University-Kokomo, receiving-votes Talladega, and a Grace College team that had beaten No. 6-ranked Midland and IU-Kokomo.

AQ picked up a close four-set win over Marian, but the following three matches were not particularly close. The Saints won each of the sets over the ensuing three matches by at least six points. Six of the nine sets were won by at least nine points. Additionally, Aquinas has yet to be taken past four sets as the Saints boast an incredible 18-3 set record over the six matches.

(RV) Aquinas 3, (RV) Talladega 1 (25-16, 25-15, 21-25, 25-16)

Kills from Lydia Harper and Samee Teachworth helped put AQ ahead 3-0 to begin the first set and the Saints never looked back. The Talladega Tornadoes were unable to string together more than two consecutive points at any time as AQ ran out to a massive lead. Mallory Keller continued to be an attacking machine with six kills in the set, leading Aquinas to a 25-16 first-set victory.

A couple of aces helped the Tornadoes take an early lead, but the Saints responded with a 7-1 run that included three kills from Keller and two from Lauren Chioini. The set briefly remained close, but another AQ run left Talladega reeling. Once again, there was no answer for the Saints' high-powered attack as Aquinas ended the second set with a ten-point advantage.

The Saints expanded their rotation in the third set with Talladega looking to get a foothold into the match. A massive 6-1 run from Talladega College (TC) helped give themselves a 14-9 lead, but AQ responded with a run of its own to close the deficit to just two points.

Despite the close score, Aquinas couldn't quite close the gap in the third set, leading to Talladega cutting the match score to 2-1.

The Saints were back in cruise control in the fourth and final set. A 7-0 run that saw Jenna Lee pick up a kill and two aces all but put Talladega away. A block from Harper and Teachworth set up a 22-14 lead before kills from Chioini and Keller ended the set 25-16 in favor of Aquinas.

By the Numbers

• This was the first time the two teams faced off against each other in the history of both programs.
• Aquinas put down 53 kills to Talladega's 34 while also comfortably leading with a .271 hitting percentage over TC's .073.
• Keller accounted for 18 of the 53 kills, leading the match with an average of six kills per set. Keller has yet to not lead the match in kills throughout the start of the season.
• Harper recorded 39 assists over four sets while also picking up six kills, two block assists, and 11 digs.
• As a team, the Saints had one solo block and 18 block assists with Teachworth accounting for the most blocks with six assists.

(RV) Aquinas 3, Grace College 0 (25-19, 25-16, 25-19)

Set one was deadlocked with AQ holding a slim lead throughout the first half of the set. Kills from Keller and Lee, along with a block from Teachworth and Harper, helped the Saints build a late lead and force a Grace timeout. Lee picked up another kill and Chloe Hogarth recorded an ace to put the Saints ahead 20-13. The Lancers from Grace managed to pick up a handful of points, but another Keller kill gave AQ the first-set victory.

The second set was a set of runs as the two sides traded four-point runs before a massive nine-point Aquinas run had Grace way behind. Bella Hommes served throughout the run and picked up a pair of aces.

Grace College was no match for the Saints once again, following the big run in the second set, and Keller finally ended another set with another kill.

Once again, set three saw AQ take another massive run, this time of the seven-point variety, to put themselves comfortably ahead. However, this time, Grace responded with a run of its own. The Lancers strung together seven consecutive points to erase the AQ lead and go ahead by two points with a score of 15-13. The positive momentum was short-lived for Grace as the Saints went on nine of the next 11 points to effectively secure the sweep.

Just a few points later, consecutive kills from Keller and a kill from Lawson made the sweep official.

By the Numbers

• The Saints have had Grace's number as of late, winning the past six matchups against the Lancers.
• Another monster match from Keller (19 kills) has the transfer from Indiana State leading the NAIA in kills per set. Keller is putting down an average of 5.75 kills per set over the first six matches.
• AQ dominated the box score, leading in kills (42-22), hitting percentage (.196 - -.021), aces (6-3), blocks (14-11), assists (39-20), and digs (47-39).
• With another 12 digs, AQ's libero, Hommes, has posted double-digit digs in each of the first six matches.
• Harper continued to do it all as Aquinas' setter, posting another 31 assists, six kills, six block assists, and eight digs.
• Chioini was a menace on the block with eight block assists over just three sets.

Up Next

The Saints have another tri-match booked on Wednesday (Aug. 28) where they will be taking on Saint Xavier and Goshen. The first match of the day will be Aquinas taking on Saint Xavier at 3:00 PM.