SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Junior outside hitter Hailey Sutton led her team with a double-double of 16 kills and 15 digs, as St. Francis battled back from a first-set deficit to claim a four-game, 22-25, 25-10, 25-17, 25-20 win over Vacaville for the girls' varsity volleyball program's first official match of the year Tuesday night.
The Troubadours defeated Vista Del Lago in a Sac-Joaquin Section Foundation match six days earlier, but that contest counts as an exhibition in the overall win-loss record. The varsity win followed sweeps by the SF frosh (25-9, 25-14) and junior varsity (25-19, 25-13) in the first home tripleheader of the season.
Vacaville entered the 2025 season as the defending SJS Division II champion, going the distance against Christian Brothers in the title match at Cosumnes River College last fall.
Sutton committed just one hitting error on 37 swings for a .405 success rate. She also matched defensive specialist Kelsey Granner with two aces, while her 15 digs came just one shy of Malia Fat's 16 for the team lead. Junior opposite Layla Hernandez added another 7-2-18 attacking numbers, while sisters Sophia and Sidney Palmeri each finished with six kills.
The Troubies struggled to a .136 clip in their first-set loss but then stormed to a .500 average (14-1-26) in the second, eventually totaling a respectable .258 (49-15-132) across the four frames.
St. Francis actually led for the majority of the opener, with Sutton's second ace extending her team's advantage to six points at 16-10. However, the Bulldogs called timeout before rallying back to a 17-17 tie, then later held a 22-20 lead when 6-foot-3 sophomore Mollie Sinclair sent back her own covered block for a kill. Sutton and Hernandez each scored kills down the stretch but the Troubies never equalized, with Noelle Watkins coming up with the set-winning ace to finish.
However, SF dominated the second set, with back-to-back block assists from Hernandez and Mercy Collier pushing their way to a 10-5 lead. Setter Hiedi Vu later enjoyed a run at the service line to extend a 12-8 margin to a commanding 20-8 edge. Senior Marissa Jensen knocked down two kills in the final five points, with Sidney Palmeri's tool finishing the job and equalizing the match at 1-1.
Like Vu in the second, Granner helped the Troubies gain some separation at the service line during the third set, with a pair of aces turning a close 9-8 battle to a 13-8 lead. Sutton had two kills in support of Granner's run, then notched two more to extend the margin to 17-10. Jensen, Gilly Glikman and Sophia Palmeri each scored key kills down the stretch, with Jensen and Glikman also combining on a block.
Collier had two blocks plus a kill and an ace to spark the Troubies' 14-6 start to the fourth, although Sinclair caught fire later in the stanza to bring Vacaville to within an 18-16 deficit. Emma Williams also scored a tool for the Bulldogs to keep the margin at just two points at 19-17, but St. Francis never allowed its guest any closer. Hernandez hit two kills in the final four points, with a net violation ultimately sealing the set and match at 25-20.
The varsity win followed the sweeps from the SF junior varsity and frosh. Delaney McGahan hit seven kills on 17 attempts while Hassanah Ramsey-Gilbert was an errorless 5-for-8 on offense for the jayvees. Ava Lucas served up four aces, including three in her team's 10-3 start to the second set.
The Troubie frosh also dominated from the service line, with Finley McKinnon (4), Nicole Hanks (4), Ava Lucas (3) and Elizabeth Bettar (3) posting at least a hat trick in aces.
St. Francis JV began its season by winning Folsom's Bulldog Bash on Saturday, improving to 6-1 overall. Varsity and frosh are now 1-0. All three teams return to action for a road tripleheader at West Park on Thursday.
