JOLIET, Ill. - Second-seeded and host University of St. Francis swept a pair of matches on Friday to remain the only unbeaten team in its pool on the opening day of the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Volleyball Championship Tournament.

The Saints defeated No. 6 seed Trinity International in four games (28-26, 22-25, 25-16, 25-20) Friday afternoon and then came back a few hours later to sweep No. 7 seed Cardinal Stritch (WI) in three straight games (25-15, 25-22, 25-16). At 2-0 in the four-team pool, USF can lock up a spot in next Friday's CCAC Tourney title game with a win Saturday afternoon over No. 3 seeded Illinois Tech. 

The Saints had four players with double-digit kill totals in the TIU match, led by 16 from both junior outside hitter Kyrsten Becker (Rolling Meadows H.S./Arlington Heights, IL) and freshman outside hitter Jazzmyne Robbins (La Salle-Peru H.S./Peru, IL). Sophomore right-side attacker Sarah Ahline (Lemont H.S./Lemont, IL) added 14 kills and junior middle blocker Lauren Hoffman (Plainfield South H.S./Plainfield, IL) contributed 10. Becker compiled a hitting percentage of .424 with just two errors in the match.

Senior Courtney Ambrosch (Joliet Township H.S./Joliet, IL) paced the USF defense with 16 digs while Becker had 22 serve receptions.

Ahline, who celebrated her 20^th birthday on Friday, stole the spotlight in the Cardinal Stritch match as she registered 18 kills against just a single error and posted a .630 hitting percentage. Hoffman added 10 kills for the Saints.

Ambrosch again topped the team with 18 digs, while Becker added 14. Becker was perfect on 22 serve receptions and freshman Ashley Thompson (Portage H.S./Hobart, IN) had 13 receptions in as many tries.

The Saints (26-15) could still win the pool even if they stumble against Illinois Tech. Trinity International and Illinois Tech each split their Friday bouts to stand at 1-1 and Cardinal Stritch is 0-2. If TIU defeats Cardinal Stritch at noon and Illinois Tech knocks off USF at 2 p.m., then all three teams tie at 2-1. A pair of playoff games would follow to determine the pool champion who would advance to the title match next week to meet the winner of the other pool tourney which is being played this weekend at league champion Olivet Nazarene.