SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Senior Layla Alexander posted nine kills as part of her team's .328 hitting, Sydney Chow and Hailey Sutton combined for nine of 14 total aces, while Isabella Ramos contributed on seven of St. Francis' eight team blocks in a 25-22, 25-14, 25-10 sweep of Whitney in the varsity nightcap of a Sierra Foothill League home tripleheader Monday night.

The Troubadours improve to 21-10 for the year and 6-5 in league matches.

Alexander had just two errors to go with her team-leading kills en route to a .538 success rate. As a team, St. Francis had 33 kills on 79 attempts, with the majority of the swings being spread evenly among four hitters: Alexander (13), Gilly Glikman (15), Sophia Palmeri (15) and Sutton (14). Chow and Nika Jafari handled most of the offense with nine and 13 assists, respectively. Libero Malia Fat led the Troubies with 10 digs, with Sutton and Chloe Johnson logging nine each as part of SF's 47 total.

Despite the strong all-around totals, St. Francis actually struggled out of the gates, falling into an immediate 6-2 hole and even trailing as late as 22-21. Whitney freshmen Alana Simpson and Emi Stephens teamed up for a block against Palmeri for that 22nd point. However, Palmeri got immediate revenge. She scored the kill on a Wildcat net violation to equalize at 22-22, then served up back-to-back aces for a 24-22 set point. Glikman followed with the winner on a five ball for the 25th.

The deficit near the end of the first ended up being the last time SF trailed in the match. Glikman scored two kills and teamed with both Ramos and Mercy Collier on blocks as part of a 14-3 start to the second. Chow later served up four aces, then Alexander pounded out three kills down the stretch to finish off the 25-14 win and boost the Troubies to a 2-0 match lead.

Alexander's hot streak continued with the first kill of the third, then she teamed with Ramos on a block. Then Ramos assumed center stage with a kill and another block assist to help extend the start to five unanswered. Whitney eventually worked its way to a ties at 7-7 and 9-9. Gabrielle Rowe was initially charged with a double hit after losing a joust, which would have provided the Wildcats with a 10-9 lead. However, that point was replayed, and resulted with Simpson's shot sailing long. This put Sutton on the service line with the Troubies holding the 10-9 edge. Sutton served up 10 straight points, half of which came on her own aces. Alexander finished the third as she did the second: pounding away at the left pin for her seventh, eighth and ninth kills of the match. Her last point came courtesy of an assist from junior Dani Payant, the team's fourth setter of the match, along with Nika Jafari, Chow and Katie Kramer.

The varsity dominance in the second and third sets matched the junior varsity's overall control of a 25-9, 25-11 sweep of the Wildcats. Also similar to varsity, the Troubies used all parts of their roster to complete the win. Freshman Tiara Lee had four kills and two blocks in SF's first 15 points of the second set. Mackenzie Thomas stuffed Mila Kljajin for the 24-11 match point, then Addison Adams served up the ace for the 25th point.

Monday's tripleheader opened with Whitney coming back from a first-set loss to claiming the 2-1 match win over the Troubies, 22-25, 25-18, 15-13. St. Francis had to rally late to snipe the opener. Maura McManus' kill tied the proceedings at 21-21, then SF caught an odd break to assume the lead: a Gaby Gonzalez free ball rolled across the top of the tape, then tipped over nearly unnoticed by the Whitney front row for a rare libero kill. Ava Lucas served up an ace and the Wildcats hit two balls into the net to deliver the win to the Troubies.

Whitney finished the second set on a 10-2 run to flip a 16-15 SF lead to the seven-point Wildcat win, then Esthera Burachek had two kills and a block assist as Whitney went wire-to-wire in the rubber set.

St. Francis remains at home for a tripleheader against Del Oro on Wednesday. Frosh begins at 4:30 p.m. with junior varsity scheduled for 5:30 and varsity at 6:30. That evening also serves as the program's annual Booster-Q night, with the SF Boosters serving free hot dogs and hamburgers in Serra Court throughout the match.