FOLSOM, Calif. – Junior Malia Fat scooped up a team-leading 15 digs while sophomore Sophia Palmeri tallied nine kills on 38 swings, but St. Francis could not protect an early match lead, falling in four sets, 19-25, 25-18, 25-15, 25-15, in the varsity nightcap of a Sierra Foothill League girls' volleyball tripleheader at Folsom Monday.
The Troubadours slip to 19-10 for the season and 4-5 in league play. The Bulldogs, ranked second in the Sac-Joaquin Section by both MaxPreps and PremierPreps, remain in second place in the SFL at 8-1, part of their 21-6 overall mark.
Junior Marissa Jensen continued the offensive momentum from the Stockton Classic tournament last weekend, hitting 6-1-11 for SF's No. 2 kills total. Mercy Collier added another 3-0-7 and Layla Alexander finished at 5-2-11 on the attacking chart, but the Troubies hit just .140 overall (32-13-136) for the match. Setters Nika Jafari and Sydney Chow each posted 12 assists, with Jafari trailing Fat with 13 digs and Chow matching Hailey Sutton's high of two aces.
Prior to the varsity action, St. Francis split its results in the frosh and junior varsity matches. In the main gym, frosh saw an early first-set led diminish to a 25-19 loss, then came up short in a 29-27 thriller in the second set. Meanwhile on the auxiliary court, the Troubie jayvees notched their third split-set win of the year, 26-24, 22-25, 15-8.
The SF junior varsity improves to 25-2 for the year and remains undefeated in league matches at 9-0. The Troubie frosh slips to 23-5 overall and 5-4 in SFL play.
All three teams return to action on Wednesday at Granite Bay. Frosh and JV play at 5 p.m., while varsity is scheduled for 6 p.m.
