LORETTO, Pa. -- Saint Francis fought its way through another five set thriller to claim victory over Thiel. Two players achieved double-doubles during this match.
The Red Wolves started the first set with a 4-1 run with help from Madison Roman's two kills, Alexandra Sappia's two assists and assisted block, Emmi Adrian's ace, and Ava Holden's assisted block. Saint Francis and Thiel went back-and-forth with points until the set was tied at 24. The Tomcats had the next two points to win the set 26-24.
A 6-2 run to start the second run was exactly how they kept the energy to finish the set. Sappia set Roman up for a kill, then Sappia found Rylan Crowell on the other side for back-to-back kills. Ana Andrades-Villa recorded two aces before the Tomcats produced an error and called a timeout. The Red Wolves continued to rack up points, winning the set 25-19.
The Tomcats were up 22-16 late in the third set before Saint Francis had a comeback win. The Red Wolves went on a 9-1 run to take the lead. Sappia set up Kylie Rauch for a kill right before Sappia nabbed an ace of her own. Middle blocker Allie Dziabo grabbed an kill and a duo block with Lorah Thomas. Rauch collected another kill while Sappia nabbed an ace. Crowell had the final point of the set with an ace taking it to 25-23.
Thiel pushed back during the fourth set taking several runs at a time. The Tomcats forced a fifth set after winning the fourth 25-15. The fifth set started out evenly until Saint Francis called a timeout and they found the same fuel they had at the end of third set. The Tomcats had two errors right before Roman registered a kill from Sappia. Adrian had an ace to keep the count up, then Roman nailed a ball past every Thiel player. Holden and Sappia had a huge duo block to stop the Tomcats from scoring again and to put Saint Francis at game point. Sappia set up Roman on the left side for the final kill.
Offensively, Sappia led the Red Wolves with 35 assists, 10 digs, three assisted blocks, and two aces. Roman collected 19 kills, 11 digs, four assisted blocks, two aces, and a .400 hitting percentage. Crowell nabbed 18 kills, six digs, and four aces.
Defensively, Aleya Talmadge recorded 15 digs and five assists. Adrian wasn't too far behind her with 11 digs, six assists, and two aces. Holden grabbed eight assisted blocks, two solo blocks, and three kills.
Saint Francis travel to Pittsburgh to face Chatham this Wednesday at 7:00 p.m.
