Philadelphia, Pa. - The St. Thomas Aquinas College Women's Volleyball team made the trek down the New Jersey Turnpike on Saturday afternoon for an early season tri-match with Kutztown University and Holy Family University.

In a hotly contested pair of matches, STAC evened its record to 1-1 on the year with a thrilling 3-1 victory over the Bears, before falling to the host Tigers, 3-1 to slip back under the .500 mark at 1-2. Kutztown moves to 0-3 on the season, while Holy Family improves to 2-0.

Set Results vs. Kutztown

Set 1: STAC 25/KU 22

Set 2: STAC 25/KU 21

Set 3: KU 25/STAC 19

Set 4: STAC 25/KU 20

How it Happened

• As a team, STAC recorded 40 kills compared to Kutztown's 37. The Spartans also had 11 blocks and 39 assists, while the Bears tallied 9 blocks and 33 assists.
• STAC outhit Kutztown by a .065 to .032 margin for the match.
• Evie Paalman (Laren Gelderland, Netherlands) paced the Spartans offense with a match-high 12 kills. She also registered two assists, two service aces a team-high 15 digs and six block assists.
• Anna Gazzerro (Padova, Italy) tallied 19 serve assists (4.75 assists/set). Gazzerro also accumulated a match-high 19 assists, one service ace and seven digs for the maroon and gold.
• Lea Venghaus (Muenster, Germany) picked up two kills, 12 assists, a service ace and 13 digs.
• Greta Santini (Reggio Emilia, Italy) tallied 11 kills, two service aces, 12 digs and two block assists on the afternoon.
• Freshman Chloe Weiting (Bakersfield, Calif.) put together a three kill, one assist, four dig and one block assist effort against the Bears.

Set Results vs. Holy Family

Set 1: STAC 26/HFU 24

Set 2: HFU 25/STAC 23

Set 3: HFU 25/STAC 22

Set 4: HFU 25/STAC 23

How it Happened

• As a team, Holy Family recorded 50 kills compared to STAC's 43. The Tigers also had 8 blocks and 50 assists, while the Spartans tallied no blocks and 42 assists.
• Holy Family outhit STAC by a .275 to .174 margin for the match.
• Evie Paalman and Greta Santini paced the Spartans offense with a team-high 12 kills apiece. Paalman registered one assist, two service aces and eight digs in the match, while Santini tallied two assists, two service aces and seven digs.
• Anna Gazzerro again recorded 19 serve assists (4.75 assists/set). Gazzerro also accumulated four service aces and three digs for the Spartans.
• Isis Barrett picked up eight kills, four service aces and four digs in her second match of the day.
• Lea Venghaus racked up three kills, 16 assists, two service aces and two digs.
• Sophomore Dahiana Garcia Atuesta (Pereira, Colombia) contributed one assist, three service aces and ten digs.
• Freshman Christianna Roberts (Hesperia, Calif.) put together a three kill effort against the Tigers.

Up Next

St. Thomas Aquinas opens its new home, the Spartan Athletic Complex, on Tuesday, September 10, hosting Bloomfield College of Montclair State University in a non-conference tilt that gets underway at 7:00 p.m.