The Bobcats continue their perfect start with another impressive win over Coastal Georgia

In the final game of the tournament, St. Thomas (7-0) completed a hard fought win over Coastal Georgia (4-4) by three sets to one (25-18), (17-25), (25-20), (25,20) on Saturday night at the Fernandez Family Center.

Buoyed by their win earlier in the day over Indiana Tech, the Bobcats jumped out to an early 16-8 lead. Despite a late surge by the Mariners, the Bobcats held on to eventually win the set 25-18 behind the effort of senior Dana Nowaczyk, who assisted 10 of St. Thomas' points.

Down a set, Coastal Georgia came roaring back in the second, winning seven of the first nine points and kept up their momentum to tie the game at one set apiece 25-17.

The third set started differently than the previous two. Both teams exchanged blows until the game was tied at 16, this is when the Bobcats scored three straight points which included a kill by junior Carly Durr who was beautifully set up by  Nowaczyk for her 25th assist of the game. The Mariners couldn't recover and in the end lost the set 25-20.

Just like the second set, Coastal Georgia jumped out to another big lead in the fourth, winning 15 of the first 21 points. This time the Bobcats did not let up and fought their way back to take a 20-19 lead thanks to a looping kill by freshman Carli Batsel, forcing the Mariners to call a timeout.

After the timeout, the Bobcats picked up right where they left off, winning five of the next six points to finish off in the Mariners and remained undefeated.

With this win, Saint Thomas improves to a perfect 7-0 record while the Mariners drop to a .500 record.

Earlier in the day, the Bobcats took care of Indiana Tech with a three-set sweep (25-21, 26-24, 26-24).  Whitney Battoe paved the way for STU leading the match with 14 kills, 2 aces and 8 digs. Setters Nowaczyk and Priscilla Ertty combined for 39 assists.  Throughout the opening set the Bobcats and the Warriors exchanged points up until St. Thomas' late 4-0 run giving them a 20-15 lead en route to the opening set victory. 

In the second set, the previous theme continued as 10 lead changes took place. Although the Warriors kept their pressing pace, they would lose the set (26-24) due to errors on two attacks. The tides would take a turn late in the set when the Warriors accumulated a four-point run to take the lead 24-23 over the Bobcats. Striking back, Shanotta Bawek hit a devastating kill to tie the set at 24-24, giving St. Thomas momentum. Catching a break on a bad set from Karli Jones, the Bobcats took the lead for good and capitalized on a final kill by Battoe to end the match.

The Bobcats' next match will be on August 31 when they will travel to Nashville, Tennessee to take on the Bulldogs of Fisk University.

Rodolphe Ganthier is a contributor for Saint Thomas University. He can be reached at ganthierodolphe22@gmail.com and on Twitter @Rodolphe22.