JOLIET, Ill. - University of St. Francis won a marathon first game over NAIA No. 17 Indiana Tech but the Saints could not maintain the momentum and dropped a four-game match to the Warriors in USF's 2009 home opener.

Neither USF nor Indiana Tech could put as many as three consecutive points together in game one after the two teams reached the game-ending 25-point figure. The teams traded points for nearly a half an hour before the Saints finally got the game-winner when an errant Indiana Tech attack attempt went out of bounds.

USF could not capitalize on the early lead and the more experienced Warriors came back to win the next three games by scores of 25-20, 25-21 and 25-16. Indiana Tech, an NAIA Championship tournament entrant a year ago, improved its season mark to 3-1 while the Fighting Saints fell to 3-2.

USF suffered a blow less than midway through the 48-minute first game when All-Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference senior setter Kelsey Polte (Hall H.S./Spring Valley, IL) was forced to leave the match with an ankle injury. True freshman Ashley Richards (Wilmington H.S./Wilmington, IL) made her collegiate debut and performed well, especially in that long first game. She finished the match with 39 assists.

Freshman outside hitter Jazzmyne Robbins (La Salle-Peru H.S./Peru, IL) shined once again for the Saints. The 6-1 hitter collected 22 kills - her first 20-plus effort of her five collegiate matches - in 53 total attempts. USF also got double-digit kill numbers from sophomore right-side attacker Sarah Ahline (Lemont H.S./Lemont, IL) who finished with 12 kills.

Senior libero Courtney Ambrosch (Joliet Township H.S./Joliet, IL) led the USF defense with 32 digs and 25 passes. Sophomore middle blocker Lauren Hoffman (Plainfield South H.S./Plainfield, IL) topped the team with 6 blocks, including 3 solos.

USF travels to Chicago this weekend to participate in the Saint Xavier/Illinois Tech Crossover tournament on Friday (at IIT) and Saturday (at SXU).