SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The St. Francis volleyball team fell in five sets to rival Christian Brothers in the annual Holy Court matchup in front of a sold out crowd. The Falcons rallied from a two-set deficit to win in five sets 22-25, 20-25, 25-19, 25-20, 16-14.

“It was a great match,” said Head Coach Alynn Wright. “Christian Brothers played relentless defense. They out-played us defensively and defense is what wins. At times we were tentative with our swings but all in all there were moments of great play and moments of nerves.”

St. Francis jumped out to a 2-0 lead behind the strong support of The Zoo, the St. Francis student section, but Falcons got back in the match with a win in the third. CB tied it at two after taking the fourth set.

St. Francis looked to close out the match in the fifth set, leading 13-10 but Christian Brothers held off the Troubadour rally to prevail in five.

“The difference was playing to play versus playing to win,” said senior captain Claire Barbe. “We were kinda timid and I feel like we could have pushed ourselves a little harder.”

St. Francis travels to Oak Ridge on Wednesday for the third straight match.

“It is going to be tough to get started but we are going to be competitive and need to dig deep,” said Wright.

 Barbe and the Troubadours will be ready again on Wednesday.

“We learned a lot from this game and we have a lot to improve on,” said Barbe. “We gel really well and I think that will carry on to tomorrow.”

The junior varsity team won in straight sets 25-9, 25-9 and the freshmen opened their season with a straight set win 25-22, 25-10.

“Holy Court is always difficult because it is our first match of the season,” said Freshman Head Coach Lawrence Whang. “We came out confident. The girls did really well.”