Outside hitter Jill Greenfield led the No. 4-ranked St. Thomas volleyball team with 11 kills and 16 digs in the Tommies’ final non-conference matchup against the University of Northwestern (Minn.) Wednesday night at the Ericksen Center.

Aside from Greenfield, three Tommies contributed to the strong offensive presence, including middle blockers Kelly Foley and Paige Brimeyer with 12 and 10 kills respectively and opposite hitter Sara Atkinson with nine kills.

The Tommies (25-2 overall, 9-1 MIAC) defeated the Eagles in three sets, making this St. Thomas’ fourth consecutive 3-0 victory.

Coach Thanh Pham said although the Eagles aren’t in the MIAC conference, with only one game remaining before playoffs, the win was important.

“We’ve clinched at least the No. 2 seed,” Pham said. “And we want to build a lot of momentum going into the playoffs.”

St. Thomas saw quick rotations in the first set with constant back-and-forth scoring as the Eagles kept evening the score with the Tommies.

Northwestern called two early timeouts to regroup, but St. Thomas managed a 25-23 first set win, despite committing eight of their 15 total errors.

Pham said during those timeouts he told the girls to “be proud of how they play, work hard, have fun and work together.”

Greenfield said the loud atmosphere at Northwestern’s home court was positive, but made it hard to gain momentum.

“I think they’re a great team and being at their house with all their fans … it’s a little intimidating at first,” Greenfield said. “But once we got into the groove, we got into it and played well.”

Foley said once the team’s communication improved, the game became easier.

“We were really quiet, and we had trouble talking,” Foley said. “But as the game went, on we picked it up, and we definitely started communicating more, and that helped us out during the second and third (sets).”

Atkinson had two consecutive kills that gave the Tommies their first sizeable lead of the game, 20-14 in the second set.

Libero McKenna Reagan, who had a strong defensive presence with 15 digs, served seven times until the end of the second set brought an 11-point deficit at 25-14.

From the middle of the second set until the end of the third, St. Thomas maintained a comfortable lead, committing minimal errors and finishing the match with a 25-18 final set victory.

Foley said as long as the Tommies win their next game, they’ll be No. 1 in the MIAC.

“Augsburg beat Concordia tonight, so if we win on Saturday, we will be conference champs,” Foley said.

Greenfield said the team doesn’t focus too much on rankings.

“We take everything one game at a time,” Greenfield said. “From here on out, it’s pretty much win or you’re done. That’s the mentality we look at no matter what the seeding is.”

St. Thomas will travel to Winona, Minn. for its final regular season game at St. Mary’s University (Minn.) (23-7 overall, 6-4 MIAC), Saturday.

Molly Sigler can be reached at sigl1215@stthomas.edu.