LOOMIS, Calif. – Sophomores Hailey Sutton and Sophia Palmeri posted offensive totals of 16 and nine kills, respectively, while Mana Jafari, Nika Jafari and Chloe Johnson each finished with double-digit floor defense, helping St. Francis posted a 25-21, 26-24, 25-21 sweep of Del Oro in the varsity finale of a Sierra Foothill League girls' volleyball tripleheader at Bonner Gym Monday night.
The Troubadours improve to 15-6 overall and 3-2 in SFL matches. The Golden Eagles even their season mark to 7-7 and slip to 2-3 in league play.
The varsity sweep followed a dominating 25-15, 25-8 straight-set victory by the SF junior varsity, while the Troubie frosh squad came up on the losing end of a 20-25, 25-15, 16-14 split-set matchup with DO.
Sutton committed just four attacking errors on a team-leading 41 swings en route to a .293 hitting average, with Palmeri turning in her usual efficiency of a 9-2-19 chart and a .368 clip. Sophomore Gilly Glikman chipped in another six kills with senior Gabrielle Rowe adding 5-1-13 hitting. The Jafari twins also had matching digs totals of 14, with Johnson adding 13. In fact, SF enjoyed 68 digs in the three sets, with Malia Fat adding nine, Sutton accounting for seven, and setter Katie Kramer stepping in for another four.
Additionally, the Troubies' net defense played a key role in the win, with Rowe, Sutton and Marissa Jensen each taking part in two of their team's eight overall stuffs. Furthermore, the front-line's soft blocking helped the back row compile that overall digs total, particularly in SF's comeback from an early hole in the third set.
While each of the three frames had relatively close scoring, the journeys to the respective scores could not have varied more. In the first set, Johnson served up the majority of a 9-0 run that vaulted the Troubies to a 13-1 start. Jensen and Glikman later teamed up for a block that made it 15-3, and SF continued to maintain roughly a double-figure lead through another stuff at 21-11. However, Del Oro managed to whittle away at the margin, closing the gap to 23-20 on a Sydney Weber/Zoe Jewett block. But Rowe answered with a kill on a four ball for set point, then an errant serve allowed St. Francis to finish the game and take a 1-0 lead.
Then in the second set, the Troubies seized a lead early on and managed to expand the advantage to 17-11 on a kill and block from Rowe. St. Francis never trailed for the remainder of the second, although DO eventually climbed all the way back to a 24-24 deadlock when senior Grace Kool's tipped ball tooled the SF block. Still, Sutton ripped her sixth kill of the stanza to crack that tie, and a long ball from the Golden Eagles finished the set for the Troubies.
The comeback effort fell into St. Francis' hands for the third, with Del Oro junior Bella Rasi serving up three straight aces to start the set, followed by a fourth serve forcing a shanked free ball. The Troubies finally had a successful serve reception on the fifth try, only to have middle blocker Kynslee Martin tap a stray overpass for a 5-0 lead.
The Troubies managed to scrape back to within a single point six times before erasing the deficit. Sutton earned the benefit of a line call to set the board at 14-14, or the first of five total ties. The SF sophomore then tooled the DO right-side block to claim a 15-14 lead for the first of three lead changes. Rowe's fifth and final kill equalized at 20-20, Sutton's ace restored the SF lead to 21-20, then Palmeri scored all four of the Troubies' final points from the left pin, one of which came on a Jensen zero block in the middle.
St. Francis now holds an 8-0 all-time series record against Del Oro during the "MaxPreps era" (2005 to present) of the program.
The Troubies return home to host Oak Ridge for continued SFL play. Frosh starts the tripleheader at 4:30, with JV and varsity following in succession.
