Despite a valiant effort from its veterans on senior night, the No. 7-ranked St. Thomas volleyball team suffered a heartbreaking five-set loss to No. 25-ranked Augsburg Wednesday at Schoenecker Arena.

The loss is the Tommies’ first in conference play this season and puts them second in the MIAC standings, just behind the Auggies based on a head-to-head tiebreaker.

Coach Thanh Pham admitted Augsburg was “a little bit better tonight.”

“We had to slow them down,” Pham said. “We didn’t do too good a job of that, so that’s a big reason we have a loss instead of a win.”

Ashley Peper and Colleen Ourada were the leading hitters for the Augsburg offense. They ranked first and second, respectively, in kills in the MIAC this season before this game.

Peper registered 17 kills, while Ourada accounted for 15 in the game.

“We knew they were going to be a really scrappy, and they’re a really competitive team, so we just wanted to match their energy,” outside hitter Jill Greenfield said. “I think they did a really good job of pushing us, and they were just the last ones to make the push.”

The Tommies won the first set 25-19 and third set 25-18, but Augsburg responded quickly both times to win the second and fourth sets.

“We fought hard with them all the way,” Greenfield said.

The team’s effort came up short as Augsburg took the decisive fifth set 16-14.

“It was a really big game for us,” Greenfield said. “We’ve just got to find a little more heart to win on our home court.”

But Greenfield is confident her team will move forward.

“From here on out, it’s almost like you lose, you’re done. We have to find the heart … and we will. We’ll figure it out,” Greenfield said.

The Tommies will work to get back in the win column Saturday when they travel to Hamline to take on the Pipers.

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