BUFFALO, N.Y. — D'Youville (0-4) dropped a straight-set decision to the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown (2-2), falling 3-0 at Saints Center Gym on Saturday. The Saints put together 21 kills and 38 digs on the afternoon but couldn't overcome UPJ's 40 kills and twelve service aces.
D'Youville came out strong in the first set, jumping ahead 3-1 as Madeline O'Brien capitalized on a Pitt-Johnstown attack error for a kill. O'Brien continued to lead the charge, tacking on several more kills to push the Saints' advantage to 10-8. The visitors clawed back to tie the set at 13-13, then broke the game open with a run D'Youville couldn't answer, ultimately taking the opener 25-19 despite a late kill from Ashley Ballou.
The second set featured a strong stretch from the Saints, who trimmed the deficit to 16-14 behind another O'Brien kill set up by Ballou. UPJ answered with a wave of service aces from Caroline Knight to pull away again, and although Cameron Ulinski added a kill late, the visitors closed out the set 25-17.
D'Youville battled in the third and final set, cutting an early deficit to 3-2 on a kill from Hailey Ferwerda off a Ballou assist. O'Brien and Ferwerda both continued to find success at the net, and the Saints kept chipping away behind opponent errors and a service ace from Lauren Scully. It wasn't enough to close the gap, though, as UPJ took the third set 25-17 to complete the sweep.
O'Brien paced the Saints with nine kills and seven digs. Ballou was steady all around, finishing with nine assists and eight digs. Ferwerda was efficient at the net, hitting a perfect .500 with four kills on eight attempts to go along with three digs. Alina Bertens Deckart ran the offense with eight assists.
Up next for the Saints, they'll travel to Columbus, Ohio to compete in the Ohio Dominican University Tournament on September 5th and 6th.
