Miami Gardens, Fla.- St. Thomas (24-6, TSC 11-3) swept Ave Maria (9-17, TSC 4-10) in straight sets 3-0 (25-17, 25-6, 25-11) to close out its regular season in preparation for conference playoffs.  The Bobcats ended their regular season with a phenomenal 14-1 record on their home court of the Fernandez Family Center.  STU won 42 out of 48 sets played at the Fernandez Center this season.

Today's match was an celebratory match for five St. Thomas University seniors - Dana Nowaczyk, Shanotta Bawek, Marisa Markus, Jessica Ingram and Chancie Grant.

The first set began started off slow for the Bobcats as AMU went on an 8-2 scoring run, but St. Thomas bounced back taking the first set 25-17.

The second set brought a real shocker for the fans with the score reading 14-4, in favor of the Bobcats, as STU's senior Marisa Markus made her first appearance since October 14 when an injury seemingly sidelined her for the remainder of the season. With an exuberant crowd, Markus scored an ace on her first serve followed by a second service ace.  St. Thomas only dropped two more points in that set, as STU scored eight straight points to close out the set. 

St. Thomas dominated the final set, with Markus again coming into serve and this time closing out the set, serving on the Bobcats' final six points of the match.

Shanotta Bawek ended the match with 12 kills, one assist, two blocks and eight digs. Whitney Battoe closed the match with eight kills, two service aces, two blocks and three digs. Assisting  in offensive efforts was senior setter Dana Nowaczyk with 31 assists, who also picked up two kills, two service aces, two blocks and five digs. 

Holding a dominant presence in the middle was both Courtney White (.714) and Kadeeja Griffin (.500), both posting hitting percentages higher than .500 pct.

Next up the Bobcats hit the road as they head to Babson Park for the conference semi-finals in a matchup against Warner University on Friday, November 11 at 2 p.m. St. Thomas looks to grab its third win of the season over the Royals as the Bobcats lead six set to one.

-30-