Senior outside hitter Hannah Braun’s 12 kills helped the No. 17 St. Thomas volleyball team defeat MIAC opponent Bethel in four sets Wednesday evening at Schoenecker Arena.

The Royals (15-5 overall, 4-2 MIAC) won the first set 25-23, but the Tommies (20-3 overall, 7-0 MIAC) won three straight sets to finish the match.

“After the first set, we knew we didn’t play our best, and we knew that if we figured a few things out we could give ourselves a chance,” coach Thanh Pham said. “Luckily enough, we did.”

Bethel’s high energy in set one caught the Tommies off guard, but they recovered quickly and found their composure.

Setter Grace Anetipa had 53 assists on 135 attempts for the Tommies on defense while the offense had four different players with at least 12 offensive kills.

“We’re a team that has a lot of depth and we utilize it,” Pham said. “We played the St. Thomas way tonight, and it worked in our favor those last three sets.”

The Tommies outplayed the Royals in the final three sets, winning 25-16, 25-21 and 25-20 to end the match.

“It was an entire team win tonight, both offensively and defensively, all the girls played really well to comeback after going down a set,” Braun said. “I’m really proud of the grit and just to be a part of this team, it’s all a blessing.”

The Tommies head to Iowa for the Coe Tourney playing Martin Luther Friday, and Illinois Wesleyan and Coe College on Saturday.

Jacob Schneider can be reached at schn6923@stthomas.edu.