SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Senior outside hitter Lana Ezeani knocked down a career-best 15 kills en route to a .438 hitting average, while middle blocker Lily Zeff and outside hitter Veronica Datwyler added 12 and 11 kills, respectively, helping St. Francis hold off McClatchy in four sets, 25-8, 24-26, 25-14, 25-9, during the varsity nightcap of a girls' volleyball tripleheader Tuesday night.

The Troubadours improve to 4-3 for the season.

The varsity victory followed straight-set wins from each of the St. Francis frosh (25-17, 25-15) and junior varsity (25-12, 25-16 squads), each of which remain undefeated at 4-0.

Ezeani entered Tuesday's match with just 30 kills for the season, but recorded half that many across the four frames against the Lions. She also committed just one attacking error in a team-leading 32 swings for her .438 clip. Zeff was even more efficient, finishing at .524 behind a 12-1-21 hitting stat line. She added a solo block and a block assist to pace the Troubies' net defense. Datwyler, who has generally seen more time as a serving and back-row specialist, went 11-3-31 on offense to go with four aces. Datwyler and senior libero Jacqueline Smith also finished the match with 17 digs each.

Engineering the offense was setter Kelsey Magley, who finished with 34 assists while chipping in another 15 digs and a team-best five aces. Overall, SF hit .276 as a team: 49 kills against 15 errors.

Datwyler enjoyed three of her four aces during a long serving run that flipped an early 5-2 hole into a massive 24-7 lead – a 22-2 total run, with 17 unanswered. The Troubies continued to roll into the second, with Datwyler posting three kills in an 11-6 start. However, SF enjoyed many of its points on McClatchy errors in that initial run. When the Lions righted their ship, they got five kills from senior Kira Comfort for the rest of the second set, plus an ace that provided CKM with a 17-15 lead.

The Troubies regrouped with three straight points – Hailey Sutton's shot down the line, Mana Jafari's service ace, and an Ezeani Tool – to make it 18-17. Comfort's kill on a four ball later put the Lions back on top, 20-19, but St. Francis again answered. Zeff scored two kills and Datwyler found some open court on a roll shot to set the board at 23-21, and a CKM service error gave the Troubies a double set point at 24-22. But three unforced errors plus another Comfort kill provided the Lions with four unanswered to equalize the match at 1-1.

Magley served up two aces and Ezeani smacked down the first of her seven third-set kills as the Troubies led the whole way in a 25-14 win. Zeff provided five kills in the stanza, while Datwyler offered three in the third and four in the fourth. Datwyler also enjoyed a unusual moment of a role reversal in the finale, when she assisted Magley for a kill on the right side to extend the SF lead to 12-4. 

The protracted varsity match stood in contrast with the quick work performed by the Troubie frosh and JV teams in their wins. Oddly, the freshman started off by spotting their guests a 5-0 start, but Audrey Bashore almost singlehandedly rescued SF out of that hole: her kill ended Nemeesha Lata's reign at the CKM service line, while her serving resulted in two aces, a ball-handling error and a Lion miscommunication in the front court. Mackenzie Thomas later served back-to-back aces to extend SF's lead to 14-9, two more Bashore aces made it 20-11, then Addison Adams posted a tool and a block assist with Anna McVicar down the stretch.

The frosh serving game remained strong into the second set, with Adams, Bashore and Trinity Ito each victimizing the CKM receive line with three aces. But the SF attack largely struggled, allowing the Lions to forge an 8-6 early lead. Arianna Dorton enjoyed a rare libero kill to tie the frame at 12-12, but the Troubies pulled away with a 13-3 finish. Adams had all three of her aces in that stretch, with Ito and Olivia Wedding providing kills to support Mia Eandi's serving run.

The St. Francis jayvees carved up the Lions even more quickly. Copeland Williams had three kills and Chloe Johnson scored two aces in a 10-2 start to the first, although each had help from some Lion missteps: one Williams kill came by virtue of a net violation, while Johnson's first ace was on a rotation error. Still, heavy offense from Jessica Dillie and Layla Alexander kept the Troubies ahead, with Dillie posting kills from either side of the net to finish the 25-12 win.

Freshman Sophia Palmeri, who had two kills in the final six Troubie points of the first set, enjoyed four more kills in the second. Credit Layla Hernandez for an early offensive spark, and Gigi Dickerson for three service aces in the 25-16 win to complete the sweep.

Tuesday's wins come as part of a five-match homestand for the overall volleyball program, one that continues on Wednesday against Folsom. Fans should note the unusual start times for the Troubies-Bulldogs matchup. Frosh starts at 4 p.m., JV at 5, varsity at 6 – a half-hour earlier than the usual evening schedule.