SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Senior libero Jacqueline Smith picked up 28 digs and served up five of her team's 15 aces while senior middle blocker Lily Zeff led offensively with 12 kills and a .550 hitting average, as St. Francis claimed a four-set, 25-10, 25-13, 23-25, 25-15 win over Davis in the varsity nightcap of a Delta League girls' volleyball tripleheader Tuesday night.
The Troubadours improve to 13-5 overall, and continue their defense of the league title with a 2-0 mark.
The SF frosh and junior varsity squads also prevailed against the Blue Devils with straight-set wins. The Troubie freshmen won the opener 25-13, then held on for a 30-28 thriller in the second set. The jayvees won more decisively, capturing sets of 25-12, 25-15. No individual details are available. Both sub-varsity programs remain unbeaten at 7-0.
Smith and Zeff were among many strong individual performances for the Troubie varsity. Senior setter Kelsey Magley logged 37 assists, bested Smith with six service aces, and ran the offense to a .218 hitting average. Junior outside hitter Natalie Sandoval posted 11 kills, including seven in the fourth set. Another 11th grade left-sider, Sophia Van Ness, narrowly missed a double-double by finishing with nine kills and 15 digs.
Zeff was the major contributor in the dominating first set, providing five kills and the first of two solo stuffs. The Troubie serving game fueled the second set, with Smith, Magley, Van Ness and Sydney Chow each posting at least one ace in the frame. Davis' Tessa Schouten helped the Blue Devils craft an early 7-5 lead before Zeff hit back-to-back kills as part of an 8-1 comeback run to a 13-8 lead.
Still, Schouten and senior Marlena Vanboxtel helped Davis fend off the sweep by propelling their team to the win in the third set. Schouten set the tone on the second point when her consecutive zero blocks eventually set up a stuff. Vanboxtel soon followed with two aces to make it five unanswered out of the gates. Schouten had four more kills to extend the Blue Devils' lead to 15-7 before SF mounted a small comeback to a 16-12. Still an errant roll shot and a back row attack violation deepened that hole to 18-12.
The Troubies managed to fight all the way back to a 23-23 tie, as Magley served up two aces and Sandoval and Van Ness scored kills in a run of four straight points to erase a 23-19 deficit. But Madeline Shull scored the side-out kill for set point, and Schouten hit the winner, forcing the fourth frame.
Sandoval, Van Ness and senior middle Amanda Silber each had two kills to boost SF to an 8-1 start to the fourth, and the Troubies went on to win the finale wire to wire. Sandoval's tool made it 22-13, Silber's putback of a covered block was point No. 23, then a Van Ness kill sent Chow to the service line with a 24-15 match point. Chow promptly served up an ace to close out the match.
Tuesday's win, which ends a five-match homestand for the three SF teams, also served as the program's annual PAL Night. Students from the Parochial Athletic League, whose member schools largely feed into St. Francis' student population, were invited to a postmatch autograph session with the varsity players. The promotion also follows a week in which Troubie students visited various schools from around the Diocese of Sacramento.
St. Francis will also host an eight-team PAL tournament on Saturday, October 14.
The Troubadours now enter an almost month-long stretch of road action, starting with Thursday's Delta League tripleheader at Pleasant Grove. Match times are the usual 4:30 (frosh), 5:30 (JV) and 6:30 (varsity) p.m.
