MIAMI GARDENS, FLA.- St. Thomas (15-10, 12-0 TSC) put out the Fire in a five setter (25-18, 23-25, 26-28, 25-21, 15-11) in The Sun Conference Game of the Week against Southeastern (19-7, 9-4 TSC) on Friday night at the Fernandez Family Center.

The fans showed up and dressed in white as the Bobcats marked the match as "White Out Night", and they brought a show for the fans. 

Both teams brought an intense and close match-up as the perfect TSC season for STU was on the line. After taking the first set, St. Thomas dropped the next two sets, with one of them going to a win-by-two bout. The match would be forced to go five sets as the Bobcats fought back from being down. 

The first set opened with STU going down 2-6 and consisted of many incredible plays. The most important came from a Whitney Battoe and Courtney White block as St. Thomas were down 8-11 and needed to bounce back. A comeback that proved to be monumental, with the score line reading 10-13 in favor of the Fire, consisted of a 13-2 run that planted STU in the lead, 23-15. Within this run, kills came from Battoe, White, Kimberly Martino and Victoria Philpot. The set would end 25-18.

Set two and three brought SEU wins that put St. Thomas down 1-2 in the match. Although STU would lose these two, amazing numbers came out of them as Carly Durr earned nine of her 14 kills, while Battoe trailed closely with seven of her 17 kills in these two sets. Martino registered nine set two assists, including three service aces, and 11 set three assists.

The fourth set had STU show-off some amazing skill-sets. Down 10-11, a quick 4-0 run would put STU up 14-11. Shortly after, Durr would make a crowd roaring play. With the score at 18-15, Durr went up for an attack set by Martino. The strategic placement of the ball was tapped perfectly to rainbow over the defensive wall set to attempt and stop the unstoppable outside hitter. The set would go in favor of the Bobcats, which set the scene for a five set thriller.

The fifth and final set brought an incredible competitive fight to the end. As the score line read 9-5, the freshman Philpot was set up perfectly by star setter Martino to record one of her five kills. Her five kills came at the right moments as she would shortly after, bring down another pounding attack after a Southeastern timeout.

STU dominated the competition in the fifth set and took the set by a final score of 15-11.

Notable number on the night came from outside hitters Battoe (17 kills, two blocks) and Durr (14 kills, one block). Bobcat setter Martino closed out the night with six sneaky kills, 48 assists, three service aces, 11 digs and two blocks.

On the defensive end, Haley Bannister earned three service aces and 26 digs while White recorded a team-high three blocks.

Next up for the Bobcats is a home conference match as the team plans to celebrate the seniors on Senior Day against Webber International on Saturday, October 28 at 2 p.m. at the Fernandez Family Center.

Come out and support as St. Thomas looks to push the undefeated streak to 13-0 in conference play.

Let's Go Bobcats!