SPARKILL, N.Y. — D'Youville women's volleyball rallied from a two-set deficit to force a deciding fifth set Sunday afternoon, but ultimately fell to St. Thomas Aquinas College, 3-2, at Aquinas Hall. The Saints dropped the first two sets before taking the third and fourth, with set scores of 23-25, 16-25, 25-13, 25-20 and 9-15.
D'Youville finished with 55 kills and nine service aces while holding an 80-74 advantage in digs. The Saints also received strong individual performances as they battled back to even the match after falling behind early.
The Saints nearly took the opening set, building a 23-21 advantage late in the frame. Gabrielle Dials put down a kill from Angelyn Jaramillo following a St. Thomas Aquinas attack error to give D'Youville the two-point lead. The Spartans responded with four straight points, however, to take the opening set, 25-23.
St. Thomas Aquinas carried the momentum into the second set, building an early 10-4 advantage. D'Youville cut into the deficit with a three-point stretch that included a block from Madeline O'Brien and Giselle Ramirez, but the Spartans held on for a 25-16 win and a 2-0 match lead.
D'Youville responded with its strongest set of the afternoon in the third. After taking a 12-6 lead behind a service ace from Dials and back-to-back kills from O'Brien and Ramirez, the Saints broke the set open with an eight-point run. Cameron Ulinski, O'Brien and Ashley Ballou each recorded kills during the run, while Maddie Boglev added a block and Ramirez contributed an ace. Ballou followed with another ace before a St. Thomas Aquinas attack error closed out a 25-13 Saints victory.
The Saints continued their comeback in the fourth set. After the teams battled to a 12-12 tie, D'Youville scored four straight points, highlighted by a Ramirez kill and back-to-back kills from O'Brien. O'Brien later added a service ace as the Saints built a 21-14 advantage. St. Thomas Aquinas cut the lead to 22-19, but Ulinski answered with two late kills before D'Youville closed out the set, 25-20, to force a fifth.
The Spartans took control early in the deciding set, building an 11-5 lead. D'Youville responded with kills from Ramirez and O'Brien, followed by a St. Thomas Aquinas bad set, to cut the deficit to 11-8. The Spartans answered by taking four of the final five points to secure the 15-9 fifth-set victory.
Ramirez led the Saints with 17.5 points, recording 13 kills, three service aces and three block assists. Ulinski finished with a team-high 15 kills and added one ace, while Ballou totaled 45 assists, 10 digs and five kills.
Dials anchored the defensive effort with a team-high 26 digs and added one service ace.
Up next, D'Youville travels to Rochester, N.Y., to take on Roberts Wesleyan University on Saturday, Oct. 10.
