Middle blocker Kelly Foley’s career-high 25 kills lifted the No. 4-ranked St. Thomas volleyball team past the University of Northwestern (Minn.) (23-13 overall) in the first round of the NCAA regional tournament Thursday at Schoenecker Arena.
The win propelled St. Thomas (29-2 overall) into the regional quarterfinals. The Tommies will square off against No. 13-ranked Augsburg College at 8 p.m. Friday. Augsburg defeated Pacific Lutheran 3-1 Thursday.
Coach Thanh Pham said having St. Benedict, Augsburg and St. Thomas all advance to the next round speaks to the strength of the MIAC.
“No matter what, there’s going to be a MIAC team in the championship,” Pham said. “Having three out of the four final teams be MIAC teams, it just speaks volumes of how tough our league is.”
Battling neck and neck early in set one, outside hitter Jill Greenfield gave her team a chance when she tooled the Eagles’ block, trailing 7-6. Foley then gave the Tommies momentum with help from a thumped Eagles’ block to tighten the score 17-16. After back-and-forth scoring, Greenfield pounded a kill to end set one 25-20. Greenfield racked up 15 kills and hit .256 on the night.
Middle blocker Paige Brimeyer said despite the win, the team didn’t reach its full potential on the court Thursday.
“I think we were really excited to play, but we didn’t quite execute like we wanted to,” Brimeyer said. “It was good to get those first round jitters out.”
The Eagles didn’t let the first set phase them. Northwestern middle blocker Faith Vander Galien got up on a set and pummeled the ball down the line for a kill—the Tommies falling behind 6-4. Opposite hitter Sara Atkinson helped the Tommies bounce back when she crushed a ball down, regaining the lead 19-17. Atkinson tallied seven kills against the Eagles. In a tug-of-war battle for the lead, the Eagles squeaked past the Tommies with a 26-24 second set victory.
Foley said the team still has room for improvement as it moves forward.
“We played really hard,” Foley said. “I still don’t think we’re playing like 100 percent how we could, but we’re definitely getting there … even when things weren’t really going our way, and we were making mistakes and stuff, we were still trying 100 percent.”
With each team holding on to a set, outside hitter Nicole Potts cranked a ball to give the Tommies an 11-7 advantage at the beginning of the third. Potts hit .400 on the night. Surging ahead, middle blocker Mackenzie Piechowski took advantage of a vacant Eagles net, thumping a kill for a 21-14 lead. Foley locked in a third set win when she tooled the Eagles’ block for a 25-18 score.
Pham said he was happy with the team’s overall performance.
“I give Northwestern a lot of credit; they’re a really good team,” Pham said. “They pushed us tonight, but I was proud of our girls that we were able to respond in a good way and pull out the victory.”
Going into the fourth set 2-1 over Northwestern, outside hitter McKenna Reagan fired an ace to lead 12-7, rattling the Eagles’ serve receive. Reagan served three aces and contributed 28 digs in the match. Atkinson struck back late in the set when she painted the line with her kill, the Tommies leading 24-15. Foley put a kill away, ending set four 25-17 and advancing the Tommies to the next round of the regional tournament.
For Brimeyer, each game calls for every team to lay it all on the line.
“I think it’s the mindset of knowing that we’re ending seasons now,” Brimeyer said. “We really just got to save ourselves for tomorrow— maybe even the next day. Every point’s crucial now.”
Sean Crotty can be reached at crot0230@stthomas.edu.