SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Senior Gabrielle Rowe hit eight kills with just two errors, but St. Francis fell just shy of picking off the third set, losing in a 25-21, 25-21, 27-25 sweep to Rocklin in the varsity finale of a Sierra Foothill League tripleheader Wednesday night.

The Troubadours slip to 16-8 for the season and even their league mark to 4-4. Rocklin, ranked No. 1 in the Sacramento area by both MaxPreps and Premier Preps, improves to 25-3 overall and remains undefeated in SFL play at 8-0.

Senior Layla Alexander added seven kills while sophomores Hailey Sutton and Sophia Palmeri had six and five, respectively. Junior middle Mercy Collier hit 4-for-5 on the attack while providing one of SF's four stuff blocks.

Impressively, the Troubies also served up six aces with no service errors. Palmeri and junior Chloe Johnson each had two such service winners, with twin sisters Nika Jafari and Mana Jafari splitting the other two. Nika Jafari also had 15 assists and six digs, while fellow setter Sydney Chow posted 11 and eight in those respective categories. Together, the setting platoon guided the attack to 33 kills and a .189 average.

St. Francis fought back from a 23-21 deficit to tie the score at 23-23 in the third, thanks to Alexander's kill on a four set followed by a Rocklin attacking error into the tape. Collier then lifted SF to a 24-23 set point on a long, scrambling rally when she knocked a stray free ball into some empty real estate on the Thunder side of the net.

However, Rocklin scored three of the next four to clinch its fifth straight sweep. Only another Alexander kill, this time from the right pin, interrupted the Thunder finish to the set. Junior middle Rylee Heinz and junior setter Ava Pabalate combined for a block for that winning point.

The varsity loss followed two dominating straight-set wins by the Troubies' frosh and junior varsity squads. Frosh opened the tripleheader with 25-13, 25-14 scores, then the JV followed with an even more resounding 25-8, 25-15 victory. 

St. Francis' freshman team improves to 23-4 overall and 5-3 in SFL play. The Troubie jayvees are now 24-2 for the year with an unblemished 8-0 mark in league matches.

All three teams continue Sierra Foothill League action on the road at Folsom on Monday. In the interim, the SF varsity heads south for its version of the 16th Stockton Classic tournament, joining a three-team pool of Homestead and California at the Tokay High site on Saturday. Match times and a link to the complete tourney schedule can be found on the varsity schedule at GoTroubies.com.