DAVIS, Calif. – The Davis Blue Devils upset St. Francis in five sets 3-2 Thursday night in a come-from-behind effort to hand the Troubadours their second loss in Delta League play this season.

St. Francis was leading 2-0 after winning identical 25-22 victories in the first two sets, but Davis kept the match alive with a 25-19 win in the third. St. Francis fought off two-set points and failed to capitalize on three match points before Davis tied the match with a 30-28 win in the fourth.

“The fourth set we definitely could have done better with less unforced errors and more control over the ball,” said senior Ashley Sutter. 

Neither team was ready to give up in the fifth in a set that saw the deciding set tied eight times. Tied at 8, Mary-Kate Schildmeyer served back-to-back winning points to give the Troubies a 10-8 lead. After exchanging points, St. Francis led 11-9 but Davis scored three straight to take a 12-11 advantage. Kylie Green’s kill tied it at 12 before Davis won two straight to setup their first match point.

Green recorded another kill and service ace to tie it at 14 for the eighth and final time in the set. Davis won the last two points to claim the match.

“The Blue Devils played their best that game and we gave it all we had,” said Sutter. “It was a really good match.”

St. Francis dropped to 18-8 on the season and 7-2 in the Delta League, while Davis improved to 21-7 and 7-2. Pleasant Grove moved into first place after a 3-0 win against Monterey Trail at 8-1. They host Davis later this month.

 “We have to eliminate our unforced errors,” said Head Coach Alynn Wright. “In the first two sets, we earned the majority of our points and in the sets we lost the difference was we gave them more points than they earned.”

St. Francis travels to Stockton on Saturday for the Stockton Invitational in a tournament featuring some of the top teams from the Sacramento area and across Northern California.

“Overall, we played our hardest and we would like another shot at them later in the season,” said Sutter.

St. Francis returns to league action next week with games at Elk Grove and Sheldon.                  

The freshman and JV teams both posted 2-0 wins in the earlier games.