JOLIET, Ill. - University of St. Francis made it a perfect weekend with a clean sweep of four opponents in the USF "Mr. Submarine" Volleyball Invitational at the USF Recreation Center on Friday evening and Saturday morning and afternoon.
The Saints (14-7) pushed their current winning streak to six matches with a four-game win over Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference foe Trinity Christian (5-9) and a thrilling come-from-behind five-game victory over Bethel (IN) (8-8).
The Saints finished as the round-robin tourney's champion, with Bethel posting a 3-1 record, TCC a 2-2 mark, Culver-Stockton (MO) at 1-3 slate and Concordia (MI) an 0-4 weekend.
USF won all but game number two against Trinity Christian and the three wins all came by decisive margins. The Saints captured the opening game 25-12, dropped a tight second game by a 25-23 score and ran away to 25-11 and 25-18 victories in the final two sets.
USF had four hitters reach double figures in kills, led by junior outside hitter Kyrsten Becker (Rolling Meadows H.S./Arlington Heights, IL) who posted 15. Junior middle blocker Lauren Hoffman (Plainfield South H.S./Plainfield, IL) added 13 kills, with freshman outside hitter Jazzmyne Robbins (La Salle-Peru H.S./Peru, IL) collecting 12 and sophomore right-side attacker Sarah Ahline (Lemont H.S./Lemont, IL) adding 10.
Freshman Ashley Richards (Wilmington H.S./Wilmington, IL) continued to show improvement as USF's setter with 47 assists. Senior libero Courtney Ambrosch (Joliet Township H.S./Joliet, IL) led the team with 13 digs and added 10 service receptions. Freshman defensive specialist Dana Wettergren (Oak Forest H.S./Oak Forest, IL) topped the club with 18 receptions and Becker followed with 13. Freshman middle blocker Erin McNeil (Plymouth H.S./Plymouth, IN) paced the defense with 4 total blocks.
The Saints started slowly in the rematch of a September 11th five-game loss to Bethel at the Indiana Wesleyan Classic. The Pilots took games one and two by scores of 25-21 and 25-20. USF got back into the match with a 25-18 win in game three and then seized the momentum with a match-tying 25-19 victory in game four.
Bethel opened a 10-7 lead in the 15-point fifth game but the Saints recovered and took the lead for good with four straight points. Ahline ended the match with a kill that gave USF the 15-13 win.
Robbins paced the offense with 20 kills, followed closely by Becker who finished with 16 and Hoffman who completed an outstanding tournament with 14 and a team-high .478 attacking percentage. Richards recorded a freshman-season-best 59 assists. Freshman Ashley Thompson (Portage H.S./Hobart, IN) led the team with 5 service aces and added 14 good serve receptions.
Becker had the best overall numbers in the match. In addition to her 16 kills, she led the Saints with 26 serve receptions (against no errors) and added 24 digs. Ambrosch led the team with 25 digs and posted 21 receptions. Wettergren also reached double digits in receptions with 16 against no errors.
The win represented the first time USF has overcome a 2-0 deficit to win in five games since Oct. 17, 2005 when the Saints rallied to defeat Embry-Riddle (FL) down in Daytona Beach, Fla. The six-match winning streak is the Saints' longest since an eight-game skein back in their most recent CCAC championship season of 2007.
USF remains at home for a CCAC match against Trinity International on Tuesday at 7 p.m. The Saints are 3-0 in league play with road wins over Robert Morris, Purdue North Central (IN) and Cardinal Stritch (WI).
