Women's Volleyball Drops Heartbreaker Against Blackburn

CARLINVILLE, Ill.—The Fontbonne University women's volleyball team hit the court for the first time this year and despite battling back forcing a fifth set the Griffins dropped a heartbreaker against Blackburn.

Final: Blackburn 3, Fontbonne 2

(20-25, 25-21, 25-16, 21-25, 15-10)

Set Breakdown

Set 1: The Griffins opened with a 14-9 lead on a kill from Abby Grumich. The two teams continued its back-and-forth battle but a solo block from Emily Eitzenhefer tied it up at 20-20.

However, the Griffins closed out the set on a 5-0 run to take the opener, 25-20. Abby Grumich was busy in the first set for Fontbonne with four kills, seven assists, three service aces, and four digs.

Set 2: It continued to be a battle in the second set but a block assist from Kelly Herr and Olivia Tallo had Fontbonne on top, 12-10.

The Beavers regained the lead at 14-13 and held onto that lead up until Fontbonne tied it up at 19-19 on Hannah Gallagher's kill. Blackburn, though closed out the set on a 6-2 run with a Fontbonne attack error securing the 25-21 win.  Gallagher had a strong set for the Griffins with a set-high four kills and six digs.

Set 3: The third set belonged to Blackburn with the Beavers owning a 15-9 lead on a kill from Kaitlyn Wiegand. Blackburn never let Fontbonne get on a run with the Beavers collecting the 25-16 victory.

Fontbonne totaled 12 kills in the set with four each coming from Gallagher and Jadyn Fitzgerald. Blackburn played its best set on the day with 14 kills and a game-high .414 hitting percentage.

Set 4: After Fontbonne led early in the fourth, the script flipped at the midway point with Blackburn regaining the lead at 14-12.

The two teams went point-for-point up until they met-up once more at 18-18. Then, the Griffins went on a 5-0 run to have its biggest lead of the set, 23-18. Blackburn tried to make things interesting late but a kill from Rae Andrews gave Fontbonne the 25-21 win to force a fifth set.

Fontbonne compiled a game-high 14 kills in the set with Gallagher leading with four and adding six digs as well.

Set 5: The Beavers seemed to be in control out of the gate with an 8-3 lead. However, the Griffins clawed its way back into it and met-up with the Beavers at 9-9 on a block assist from Hannah Gallagher and Jackie Drury.

It was all Blackburn the rest of the way, though closing out on a 6-1 run for the 15-10 set and match win.

Head-to-Head

• Fontbonne finished with 56 kills and a .165 hitting percentage.
• They ended with eight service aces and defensively collected 72 digs.
• Blackburn totaled 47 kills in the win and a .199 hitting percentage.
• The Beavers had 13 service aces.
• Defensively, they finished with 67 digs, six solo blocks, and six block assists.

Fontbonne Leaders

• Hannah Gallagher had a strong debut on both sides of the net registering her first double-double with a game-high 15 kills and 20 digs.
• Newcomer Jadyn Fitzgerald debuted with a double-double of her own totaling 12 kills and 10 digs.
• Ella Werner led in the assist department with 22, while Abby Grumich was right behind her with 20.
• Emma Pramik and Rae Andrews added 15 and 12 digs, respectively.

Up Next

The Griffins have its home opener on Wednesday night when they'll take on Westminster. First-service at 7 p.m.

Fans make sure to stay updated on fontbonnegriffins.com throughout the year for full updates and recaps on the women's volleyball team.

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