MIAMI GARDENS, FLA.- St. Thomas (9-9, 6-0 TSC) continued its conference play dominance with a four set victory over Keiser (6-14, 3-4 TSC) on Tuesday night.
St. Thomas remains undefeated in conference play with a perfect 6-0 record.
The first set opened with a 5-3 Bobcat run as an incredible Courtney White and Kimberly Martino block assist would help edge them to an early run. As the set went on, STU was down 18-21. Back to back block assists from outside hitter Carly Durr and freshman Victoria Philpot brought the score line to 20-21. Although the urge to win the set was visible, Keiser would take set one 25-22. Setter Martino earned 10 of her 42 assists in this opening set.
Set two had the Bobcats pounce on an opportunity to tie the match at 1-1 in order to continue pushing towards a conference victory. The set would end 25-14 in favor of STU. Amongst this set came a 5-1 run when the score had read 12-10 with St. Thomas up. The connection between Battoe (three kills) and Martino (three assists) was electric as the two would work together and ignite the run.
The third set had STU run away with an 8-4 lead. A scoring run of 6-3 forced a timeout from KU as the scoreline read 14-7. Shortly after that, St. Thomas pushed harder and had KU spend its second and final timeout after an 18-9 lead. STU jumped out in front in the match with a 2-1 lead after a third set 25-14 victory, a mirror image of the second set.
The fourth and final set started with a perfectly placed lob kill from Durr in the opening play of the set.
A quick back and forth from both teams left STU in perfect position to attack. After two set errors from the opposition and a deliberately deadly kill from sharp shooter Battoe had Keiser fall in a bad spot, which required them to call a timeout. The Seahawks were not able to bounce back as STU would ultimately win the match with a 25-13 fourth set win.
Leading the way for the Bobcats was Battoe with 17 kills and nine digs, along with White who closed out the night with 13 kills, one service ace and two blocks.
Setter Martino earned a match-high 42 assists, which went along smoothly with her 16 digs and one block.
Defensively, Haley Bannister recorded 21 digs on the night, which proved to be a match-high.
Next up for the Bobcats is a home match against Florida National on Wednesday, October 11 at 7 p.m. at the Fernandez Family Center.
Come out and support!
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