BABSON PARK, Fla. – No. 2 seed St. Thomas defeated No. 3 seed Warner, 3-1, in the semifinals of The Sun Conference Tournament Friday afternoon at the Sabbagh Athletic Center. The Bobcats took the match 25-21, 19-25, 29-27, 25-20 to advance to the Sun Conference Championship 2 p.m. Saturday.
St. Thomas (25-6) will meet the winner of No. 4 seeded Keiser versus top-seeded Webber in the other semifinal.
Whitney Battoe pounded 18 kills, and had a .424 hitting percentage, eight digs, two service aces and one block for the Bobcats. Shanotta Bawek had 14 kills, 14 digs and a block. Kadeeja Griffin reported a .444 hitting percentage with 10 kills, two digs and three blocks, while Courtney White posted nine kills, hit .368 and had one block. Senior setter Dana Nowaczyk recorded a match-high 50 assists, along with an ace, five digs and a block. Kelli Kosydor led all Bobcats with 16 digs.
In what seemingly was a relentless and noisy environment, St. Thomas endured the ebbs and flows, weathering the storm to advance to the championship match. In the opening set, the Bobcats and Royals exchanged leads in a see-saw affair before St. Thomas rattled off three consecutive points behind back-to-back kills by Battoe and an ace by Nowaczyk.
In the following set, the Royals created some separation after Adrienne Czaplewski's kill tied the game. Her putaway triggered a four-point Warner run to stretch the lead to 19-15. The Bobcats battled back, but could not regain control as the Royals outscored the Bobcats 6-4 down the stretch.
Heading into the third set, the teams cumulatively exchanged leads 38 times over the course of the set, and each sided out at over a 70 percent clip. With the Royals up by one in the latter part of the set, Carly Durr, who was nicely assisted by Nowaczyk, hit a ball that tied it up. That swung the momentum in the Bobcats' favor. St. Thomas scored two more consecutive points, and went on to finish off the set and take a 2-1 lead in the match.
As a team St. Thomas averaged a .448 hitting percentage which outdid Warner's .235 in set four. After getting out to an early 8-3 lead, St. Thomas continued to apply pressure and never looked back. The Bobcats' lead remained unchanged for the duration of the set as they scored consecutively to stretch the lead to five. White pounded a kill to finish it off.
The Bobcats head back to the Sabbagh Athletic Center 2 p.m. Saturday in their bid to win the conference championship.
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