SPS Wins Home Opener

St. Paul’s hosted Nobles for their first home game of the season. St. Paul’s came out strong behind the serving of Anna Liu ’25 and kept the pressure on the entire first set. Strong hitting by Ellie Pingree ’24 and Lily Fitzgerald ’25 helped build a 14-11 lead. Kennedy Hinojoso ’24 put the first set out of reach for Nobles with her defense and serving, earning a five-point run to build a 20-14 lead. St. Paul’s went on the win the first set 25-16 without much difficulty. Nobles responded to the first set defeat and came out strong in the second set – strong blocking and serving helped them get up 05-07 and then 06-14. St. Paul’s rallied back behind Kennedy’s serve once again to close the gap 13-17 but a series of strong serves by the Nobles libero helped them close out the second set 17-25. St. Paul’s appeared a little deflated after the loss but strong play from Manon Lesort ’24 and fresh energy off the bench from Olivia Hu ’25 and Motu Odukoya ’27 helped build up a small lead early at 08-04 and then 14-07. But Nobles would not lie down and continued to fight behind their strong setting and the serving of their libero, and ultimately worked their way back to a 20-20 tie. But at the key moments, our passing came through and our hitters found the holes to put away the third set 25-23. The same energy drove us into the fourth set but Nobles still fought hard and the set remained tied at 11-11 after a complete set of rotations. Nobles built up a small lead on a series of serving runs but St. Paul’s bounced back again to close the gap 19-20. Leaning heavily on the serving of Georgia Cooper ’24 and timely aces by Scout Lambiotte ’26 put St. Paul’s on a decisive charge that closed out the final set 25-20 to win the match.