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Cougars Celebrate Breast Cancer Awareness Night with Four-Set Thriller Over Spring Arbor

Cougars Celebrate Breast Cancer Awareness Night with Four-Set Thriller Over Spring Arbor

FORT WAYNE, Ind. – On Friday evening the University of Saint Francis Cougars (15-18; 8-9 Crossroads) played host to the Spring Arbor University Cougars (12-20; 2-15 Crossroads) in their final home game of the regular season and prevailed in four sets by scores of 25-23, 26-28, 25-19, and 26-24.

In addition to Friday's match, the Cougars also honored Breast Cancer Awareness Month by selling ribbons, t-shirts, and by wearing pink during warmups to remember all those who have perished to the dreadful disease.

Opening the first set the Cougars got off on the right foot as they took an early 8-5 lead before Spring Arbor had to call a timeout. Saint Francis maintained the lead through much of the frame, but towards the end Spring Arbor went on a four-point service run to take a two-point lead forcing the Cougars to call a timeout.

Then with Saint Francis trailing 23-21, they turned the tables on Spring Arbor enjoying a four-point service run of their own in route to a two-point victory.

Opening the second set the Cougars picked up where they left off jumping out to a 7-3 lead to start. But like they did in the opener Spring Arbor battled back and both teams exchanged leads throughout. Then with the score tied at 26, Spring Arbor got a kill and an error by the Cougars as they fought back to even the match at one win apiece.

The third set went as another back-and-forth battle between both teams. Then with the score tied at 13, the Cougars went on to score on five of the next six rallies to take an 18-14 lead before Spring Arbor had to call a timeout.

From there the Cougars never looked back as they claimed the third set by six points to go ahead 2-1 in the match.

Heading into the fourth set, the Cougars got off to another good start, but then Spring Arbor began to find momentum and scored on three straight rallies to take an 18-15 lead over Saint Francis. Spring Arbor later extended it to a seven-point service run, but the Cougars fought back and stayed resilient.

Saint Francis clawed their way back to take a 23-22 lead before Spring Arbor had to call their final timeout. After another back-and-forth fight, the Cougars earned the hard-fought win capped off by a kill by sophomore outside hitter Paige Fortkamp.

Throughout the match, senior defensive specialist Maile Steckelberg had a team-leading 36 digs, while sophomore setter Alexa Sparks led the way in assists with 47 and Paige Fortkamp led in kills with 23. 

The Cougars resume play Saturday afternoon when they travel to Mount Vernon, Ohio to take on the Mount Vernon Nazarene University Cougars (25-6; 10-6 Crossroads) in the regular season finale beginning at 2:00 pm.

Cougar fans, stay updated with all events and recaps with USF Athletics by visiting Saintfranciscougars.com or by downloading the Saint Francis Cougars app.