SACRAMENTO, Calif. – St. Francis earned a No. 7 seed and will host 10th-seeded Thomas Downey in the first round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I girls' volleyball championship tournament, the section office announced Friday afternoon. Match time is 6 p.m. in the school's main gym.

The Troubadours finished fifth in their first season as a member of the Sierra Foothill League, holding a regular-season mark of 22-12 overall and 7-7 in league play. The Vikings went 26-12 for the season, including a second-place 7-3 ledger in the CCAL.

St. Francis is led offensively by a pair of sophomores outside hitters, Sidney Palmeri (239 kills) and Hailey Sutton (190), with another tenth-grader, Gilly Glikman, adding another 158 from the right side. On a per-set basis, OH Layla Alexander has another 175 kills in 65 sets for a 2.69 average. Palmeri also has the most efficient hitting, committing just 43 errors for a .329 clip.  
Defensively, junior Malia Fat took over the libero jersey early in the season, thanks to a her 249 digs. Seniors Nika Jafari and Sydney Chow have platooned at setter for a combined 728 assists while Jafari leads the serving corps with 69 aces.

Downey's 6-foot-0 opposite Izzy Watson has 431 kills in exactly 100 sets for a 4.31 average, while freshman left-sider Zaniyah Corneille has another 317 kills. Collectively, that tandem also has 151 aces against 74 service errors, while Watson ranks second on her team with 302 digs (behind Alexis Monroy's 323).

While St. Francis volleyball holds a 7-7 record against the tough SFL, it boasts a strong 15-5 non-league mark in 2024. Highlighting the season were runner-up finishes at the Central California Classic in early September and the 16th Stockton Classic in early October. These have contributed to the Troubies' No. 10 ranking in the SJS by MaxPreps, including No. 5 among D-I schools.

A win on Tuesday would advance SF to the section quarterfinal round against either No. 2 Folsom or the winner of the Tokay-McClatchy outbracket match. Not surprisingly, the top four seeds are teams familiar to the Troubies: fellow SFL members Rocklin (No. 1) and Folsom (No. 2), 2022 SJS semifinal opponent St. Mary's (No. 3), and former Delta League mate Pleasant Grove (No. 4).

Tickets are available exclusively via GoFan (https://gofan.co/app/school/CIFSJS). Individual matches will go live on the platform over the weekend.

Note: the complete SJS Division I volleyball bracket can be found here: https://www.cifsjs.org/volleyball-d1-bracket... However, as of this release, please beware that the MaxPreps bracket links to Downey High of the Southern Section as opposed to Modesto's Thomas Downey High of the SJS.