Middle blocker Kelly Foley led the St. Thomas volleyball team with 12 kills in its first conference match, ending in a 3-1 victory over St. Mary’s University Wednesday night in Schoenecker Arena.

The Cardinals were able to put up a fight in all four sets, but the potent Tommie offense proved to be too much in the end.

“St. Mary’s is a really good team,” coach Thanh Pham said. “They were in the conference tournament last year, and with most of their returners coming back this year, we knew it would be a tough battle.”

The Tommies came out firing on all cylinders as they won both of the first two sets 25-19 behind stellar play from Foley. Pham said Foley’s presence on the court is one of the keys to the team’s success.

“Kelly Foley in the middle scares a lot of people,” Pham said. “They have to camp on her, and our setters did a good job of getting other kids the ball, and we found a way to score that way.”

The main beneficiary of Foley’s dominance was outside hitter Jill Greenfield. The senior tallied 10 kills to go along with 11 digs.

“I think this was a really big confidence booster for us,” Greenfield said of the victory. “We have a lot of pieces we feel like are missing from last year, but we just need to figure out how to play together.”

Despite terrific performances from Foley and Greenfield, the Tommies were quick to point out how well the Cardinals played.

“They were great at staying in system, and they responded really well to everything we did,” Greenfield said. “They were super aggressive and were really unstoppable in a lot of areas, so it was tough to overcome.”

The Cardinals channeled their aggression to win the third set 25-21 before dropping the fourth and final set to the Tommies 25-22.

Starting off MIAC play with a win is something the Tommies don’t take for granted, and Greenfield said the win over a conference opponent gave the game greater importance.

“Conference matches are huge when it comes to the end of the season, so it was really big for us,” Greenfield said.

Pham said he was happy with the win, and the team’s focus during the game.

“We didn’t want to look past them,” Pham added. “It’s comforting to know we got this one out of the way.”

The Tommies are back in action this weekend as they travel to Wisconsin for the Eau Claire Invitational. The team’s first game of the weekend will be at 3 p.m. Friday against Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

Scott Sikich can be reached at siki3549@stthomas.edu.