Gainesville, FL

After playing at St. Petersburg on Thursday, the Saints (2-2) returned home on Friday to host the Pasco-Hernando State College Bobcats (1-2) and the Enterprise State Community College Boll Weevils (4-3). Heres how the day went:

The Saints stormed out to an 8-1 lead in the first set vs Pasco-Hernando. The Bobcats fought back to cut the lead to 11-10, but the Saints held on to win the first set 25-18.

An ace by Addison Mittauer gave the Saints a 3-0 lead in the second set. The Bobcats took their first lead of the set at 6-5. However, sparked by a Kailyn Howard kill, the Saints took four in a row to regain the lead 9-6. The Saints extended the lead to 18-13 with a kill by Linnea Preston, and held on to win the second set 25-18.

An ace by Emily Geaquinto gave the Saints their first lead of the third set at 5-4. The Bobcats controlled the rest of the set to win 25-12.

The fourth set was tied 4-4, then the Saints took four in a row to take an 8-4 lead. Back-to-back kills by Ife Talabi and an ace by Kailyn Howard gave the Saints the set four win 25-20.

Talibi tallied 13 kills and Geaqinto added 11 of her own in the game 1 win. 

Game 2 vs Enterprise State:

The Saints returned to the court to face the Weevils in the tri-match finale. The Saints took a 7-2 lead in the first set, but the Weevils fought back to take the lead 14-11. Enterprise held on to win the first set 25-18.

A close second set resulted in a 26-24 win for the Weevils.

An Ife Talabi kill and aces by Emmy Rowland and Addison Mittauer gave the Saints a 14-12 lead in the third set. The Weevils recorded an ace to tie the set at 21-21, but Emily Geaquinto responded witha kill to give the Saints the lead 23-22. Kailyn Howard gave the Saints a 25-22 set three win with a kill, extending the match by at least another set.

The Saints took a 3-0 lead in the fourth set, and a block by Linnea Preston and an Emily Geaquinto ace extended the lead to 10-4. The Weevils stormed back to tie the set 10-10, but Kailyn Howard ended their run with a kill. Emily Geaquinto added a kill and Jessica McKee recorded a block to give the Saints an 18-15 lead. An ace by Charlotte Mongin extended the lead to 20-16. The Saints held on to win set four 25-23 with a kill by Ife Talabi.

An ace by Charlotte Mongin and blocks by Jessica McKee and Linnea Preston gave the Saints a 6-3 lead in the decisive fifth set. Addison Mittauer added a block to extend the lead to 9-5. Talabi and Geaquinto recorded back to back kills to give the Saints match point at 14-7, and they were able to hold and win the fifth set 15-10. 

Catch the Saints in action next as they host the #2 Miami Dade College Sharks on Wednesday, September 3rd at 6:00pm!