SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Junior outside hitters Hailey Sutton and Sophia Palmeri hit 16 and 11 kills, respectively, while senior libero Malia Fat collected 10 of her 13 total digs in a third-set marathon, as St. Francis swept Christian Brothers, 25-17, 25-21, 37-35, in the varsity finale of Saturday's "Holy Court" girls' volleyball tripleheader.

The Troubadours improve to 3-0 for the year. The Falcons drop their fourth straight, with the last three coming against members of the Sierra Foothill League, to even their season mark to 4-4.

The varsity win culminate a St. Francis sweep for all three levels: frosh overcame a late first-set deficit to capture a 25-22, 25-23 win to open the night. The Troubie junior varsity then dispatched its CB counterpart by scores of 25-18, 25-15.

Sutton posted her 16 kills against just six errors in 33 swings for a .303 success rate, while Palmeri was even more efficient: 11-2-24 and a .375 average. Middle blockers Marissa Jensen (6-0-7) and Mercy Collier (3-0-5) hit .750 between them. Opposites Gilly Glikman and Layla Hernandez turned in another nine kills each. Overall, St. Francis posted a team attack rate of .357, thanks to 54 kills with just 14 errors.

St. Francis never trailed in the opener, taking as much as a 13-5 lead when a Hernandez-Collier block and a pair of Sutton kills resulted in a 6-0 run. Falcon senior Simone Huarte, who later had 10 kills in the extended third frame, served up three straight aces to offset the Troubie hot streak, then senior Sophia Brennan followed with a kill from the right pin to close the gap to 13-10. CB cut that margin to just two points at 15-13, only to have SF finish on a 10-2 outburst. Glikman put down kills from each side of the net to kickstart that home stretch.

Except for the opening serve running wide, the Troubies led for the entirety of the second. Jensen got that ball rolling when she put back a stray serve reception, then teamed with Glikman for a stuff block at 4-1. Hiedi Vu later extended the SF lead to 15-9 when her serve nudged over the tape for an ace, while a Hernandez tool pushed her team's advantage to eight at 23-15. CB again stormed back to just a 24-21 hole on a Troubie net violation, but Sutton hammered out the 25th point to give SF the 2-0 match lead.

This set the stage for a wild third set. Sutton's back-to-back aces propelled SF to a 4-1 start, but CB flipped the script with a Huarte kill on a four ball pushing the Falcons to a 10-6 advantage. Paolo Trujillo's setter dump made it a seven-point set at 16-9 before St. Francis began to scrap back into contention. Brynley Magley's serving run reduced the deficit to 18-16, with Hernandez notching a solo block followed by a kill in that run. Finally, Glikman won a joust to set the board at 23-22 in the Troubies' favor, only for Sutton to have an ace reversed by a foot fault.

That 23-23 tie was the first of 13 straight. St. Francis held match point at 25-24, 27-26, 29-28, 30-29 and 36-35; and faced match point on the eight other occasions. Sutton had eight kills and two aces in the finale alone, including the final clinching kill at 37-35. Hernandez posted another five kills in the third, with Palmeri providing four more, but Fat had perhaps the most impressive output of 10 digs.

Setting the table for the varsity thrills was the frosh first set, during which St. Francis trailed as late as 20-17 on Lila Watts' tool in the middle. Abby Carrothers responded with one of her seven total kills, Finley McKinnon served up an ace, then three straight unforced errors put the Troubies back on top by a 22-20 margin. Setter Jamie Jack served up the game-winning ace to seal the 25-22 win.

The Troubie freshies largely stayed ahead in their second-set win, with Michaela Forman's kill on a stray free ball resulting in the largest lead at 14-10. CB managed to tie the frame at 9-9 prior to that, and equalized at 22-22 on an attack that sailed long. Carrothers hit back-to-back kills from each side to establish a 24-22 match point. Forman came up with the winner with a massive zero block in the middle. CB covered that attempt, only for Forman to rip it back for the final kill.

The Troubie jayvees enjoyed four kills and a block from freshman middle Hassanah Ramsey-Gilbert in the first set, with that fourth kill extending the SF lead to 22-14. Setter Quinn Castro earned a free ace when CB received out of rotation, boosting the edge to 10 for a 24-14 set point. The Falcons manage to fight back for a 4-0 run, forcing head coach Todd Rhoads to take a timeout. That resulted in Maura McManus' kill to finish the job.

The second JV set had the most lopsided final score, but even that began with a 10-7 Falcon lead. Sophie Yiakis and Ramsey-Gilbert teamed up for a block and a much-needed side out, sending Zoie Alves to the service line. The sophomore libero posted three aces and Kayla McCauley had three kills in a 10-0 run that boosted SF to a 17-10 edge. SF kept its guest at bay for the remainder, finishing the match with a Lyla Faruzzi kill and a Kyle Beckett ace.

The Holy Court rivalry match featured its usual joint pregame prayer before the varsity match, with Fat and Huarte representing SF and CB, respectively. Adding to the festivities, however, was a rare duet for the national anthem: sisters Hayley Vu of the frosh team and Hiedi Vu of the varsity squad performed together for the first time during a Troubie volleyball match.

St. Francis last swept Christian Brothers in all three levels during the 2022 Holy Court matchup at Cosumnes River College. The Troubies return to action for a road tripleheader at Pleasant Grove on Tuesday.