Paced by another efficient night from outside hitter Kelly Foley, the No. 8-ranked St. Thomas volleyball team defeated No. 22-ranked St. Benedict 3-1 in the MIAC semifinals Thursday at Schoenecker Arena.

The win gives St. Thomas a berth in the MIAC Championship game for the fifth straight year Nov. 8 against Augsburg, the only MIAC team to defeat the Tommies this season. Foley said the Tommies savored the win over the rival Blazers but added that a rematch with the Auggies was in the back of everyone’s minds.

“I think we’re already thinking about it right now, and it’s going to be be a big game,” Foley said. “We know what went wrong when we lost to them last time, and we know how to correct those things and prepare.”

The Tommies’ dynamic duo of All-Americans Foley and outside hitter Jill Greenfield combined for 24 kills and 22 digs on the night, a statistic that coach Thanh Pham said is important to the success of his team going forward.

“I loved their composure … I couldn’t be prouder of their performances tonight,” Pham said. “We are going to have to rely on them quite heavily for so much.”

After taking the first set 25-21, St. Ben’s scored six straight points and five of the last seven to take the second set 25-15.

“Volleyball is a game of momentum, and you never know when it’s created or who has it, but it’s very obvious when you don’t have it,” Pham said.

Foley, the MIAC’s first three-time volleyball Player of the Year, said that despite the Blazers winning the second set handily, she knew the Tommies would keep their composure.

“We’ve been in these situations before,” Foley said. “We knew we couldn’t start freaking out and that we just needed to play our game no matter what.”

After dropping the second set, St. Thomas responded by taking the third and fourth sets 25-23 and 25-21, respectively.

“We didn’t have it in the second set, and we were fortunate enough to get back to being ourselves in the third and fourth,” Pham said.

Pham said he wasn’t surprised with the back-and-forth nature of the game though.

“That’s going to happen with two top-ranked teams. You can tell why they’re ranked so high,” Pham said. “They’re a very good team, and we feel very fortunate to come away with a victory.”

Libero Whitney Abrahamson led the Tommies with 25 digs in Thursday’s win but said that despite the victory, the team still has room for improvement.

“I think we need to work on our mental toughness and confidence,” Abrahamson said. “(We have to) know that we can do it and we can do it together.”

After the MIAC Championship, St. Thomas will await seeding for the NCAA Tournament, which begins Nov. 14. A win over the Auggies would give the Tommies the MIAC’s automatic bid into the tournament, while a loss would leave the team’s seeding up in the air. Abrahamson said the Tommies can’t get ahead of themselves and will need to “take it one game at a time.”

“We try not to focus on that,” Abrahamson said. “We’ve got to get back in the gym tomorrow and then play Augsburg Saturday and hope for the best.”

Tom Pitzen can be reached at pitz2014@stthomas.edu.