PALOS HEIGHTS - Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference co-champion Trinity Christian earned its first-ever berth in the NAIA national tournament as the No. 2-seeded and host Trolls eliminated No. 3 seeded University of St. Francis in four games in the semifinal round of the conference postseason volleyball tournament Thursday night.

TCC (28-6) will face fourth-seeded Saint Xavier in Saturday night's tournament championship match after the Cougars upset regular-season co-champion and top seeded Olivet Nazarene in the other CCAC semifinal match on Thursday. Both TCC and SXU earn berths to the national tourney by virtue of reaching the CCAC tourney final.

USF (26-13) dropped game one of Thursday's match by a 25-18 score but turned things around in game two and notched a convincing 25-17 victory to even the match.

TCC led game three by a slim 11-9 score when bad luck struck the Saints and turned the momentum over to the Trolls. Senior outside hitter Kyrsten Becker (Rolling Meadows H.S./Arlington Heights, IL) suffered a severe ankle injury on a play at the net and was forced to the sidelines for the rest of the night. Becker, the only Saints player who played all the way around the court in the match, was leading USF in kills with 9, serve receptions with 17 and digs with 9 at the time of the injury.

TCC quickly expanded its lead to as much as 7 points at 20-13 but USF would not go down easily and came back to get within a single point at both 23-22 and 24-23 before losing the rubber game by a 25-23 count. The Trolls then put the match away with a 25-19 victory in set number four.

On the night, the Saints were led offensively by sophomore outside hitter Jazzmyne Robbins (La Salle-Peru H.S./Peru, IL) who finished with 12 kills. Senior middle blocker Lauren Hoffman (Plainfield South H.S./Plainfield, IL) matched Becker with 9 kills and sophomore right-side attacker Stephanie Shostok (Lincoln-Way Central H.S./Mokena, IL) added 8.

Hoffman and junior right-side attacker Sarah Ahline (Lemont H.S./Lemont, IL) led the club with 4 total blocks apiece. Freshman libero Breanne Shaw (Joliet Township H.S./Joliet, IL) paced the team with 26 serve receptions and 13 digs. Sophomore setter Ashley Richards (Wilmington H.S./Wilmington, IL) had 24 assists while fifth-year senior setter Kelsey Polte (Hall H.S./Spring Valley, IL) finished her career with 18 assists in the match.