Holy Court Decided in Five Sets

News

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The St. Francis volleyball team battled five sets before falling to Christian Brothers in front of a sold out crowd Thursday in the annual Holy Court matchup between the schools.

“This is the hardest we have ever fought,” said sophomore Aiyu Aimufua. “If anything it makes us want to work even harder. We brought our all today and I think there are only better things to come for us.”

St. Francis won the opening set 25-15 and briefly quieted the home crowd for the Falcons. But Christian Brothers won the second set 25-15 to equal the match at 1.

The Troubadours took game three 25-22 with a come-behind win but was unable to close out the match as the Falcons rallied to win the last two sets 25-15 and 15-12.

“We can’t let teams catch up to us when we have the lead,” said Aimufua. “When we have a lead we have to keep our mojo going and not let anyone catch up with us. We will work on it in practice.”

Head Coach Alynn Wright was proud of her team’s effort.

“It is always tough in this gym,” said Wright, who is in her 28th season leading the program. “It is tough to go on the side with the home crowd. As I told the kids, the wheels feel off the bus and they are somewhere out on Martin Luther King Blvd. But we got them back, gained some momentum. If we had started how we finished it would have been ours.”

Aimufia and Clare Schutz each had six kills. Junior Bailey Avery recorded 23 digs and Kelsey Grover notched 21 assists.

 “It was so much fun,” said Aimufua. “The Zoo was crazy, the court was so much fun and there was so much energy. It was probably the best night of volleyball I have ever had. We learned how to come together as a team and we learned a little more about hard work.”

St. Francis returns to action at the High Sierra Invitational for a competitive tournament starting Friday in Reno, Nev. Follow all the action with the #TroubieTakeover on the St. Francis social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Senior Nina Sanfilippo will be posting all weekend with updates on the Troubies.

The freshman opened the night with a straight set win (25-14, 25-17) and the junior varsity posted a 25-13, 25-19 win.

Christian Brothers 3, St. Francis 2 1 2 3 4 5
St. Francis 25 15 25 15 12
Christian Brothers 15 25 15 25 15

Stat Leaders – Kills: Aimufua 6, Schutz 6; Assists: Grover 21; Digs, Avery 23, Davis 17.