BOURBONNAIS, ILL.- St. Thomas (5-7) closed out the Holiday Inn Express Tournament against host school Olivet (10-8) and Indiana Wesleyan (16-6) on Saturday afternoon.
The Bobcats would drop the first match to ONU in five sets by a final score of (20-25, 25-22, 25-19, 20-25, 13-15).
The second set went in favor of Olivet though the teams would soon be a part of a great match that would go all the way down to the wire.
Bobcats led 20-17 at one point but ONU would bounce back and bring the fight. After a timeout from the Bobcats, they took control and made sure that this set would fall in their hands. Whitney Battoe would float the ball right over the hands of the ONU defenders off a perfectly set ball from Kimberly Martino. Kimmy with her sneak attacks really caught the opposition off guard. She would place the ball in pinpoint locations to truly catch the Tigers off their mark. Three of her 11 kills in the match came in the second set.
Another set opened up strong by the Bobcats as the run went 8-4 before Olivet called a timeout. Battoe played a huge role in this opening run, as did Martino.
A sneak attack with the score reading 7-8 in favor of STU and a service ace helped the cause continuing that opening run would put the Bobcats up 10-7.
One thing learned, if anyone goes up at the net for a one on one against Martino, they will lose that battle. Martino put the next Bobcat run in her hands and stopped ONU at the net on multiple occasions. Unbeatable attempts by the star setter could not be stopped. Truly something to be witnessed as she dominated the net and brought STU points from her blocks and kills.
In the fourth set, ONU jumped on an early 4-0 lead, but St. Thomas would bounce back. A Bobcat run that consisted of a Battoe kill and service ace, a pair of Durr monstrous kills and a Bannister service ace would bring an 8-7 lead in favor of STU.
The fifth set brought a close matchup as STU and ONU would simply trade blows but a close match would be taken away from the Bobcats in the fifth set.
Some notable numbers in the first match came on the offensive end from Battoe (12 kills), Durr (11 kills) and Martino (10 kills, 28 assists). Defensively, STU's libero Bannister would dig on 21 occasions while Courtney White would block on three occasions.
In the second match the Bobcats faced a tough opponent that simply put the pressure and the intensity on STU and never looked back as Indiana Wesleyan would take home a straight set victory.
The second match brought eight kills for Battoe, 10 digs for Kelli Kosydor, seven kills for Durr, 21 assists for Martino and 20 digs for Bannister.
Next up for the Bobcats is an away conference match against Johnson & Wales in North Miami, Fla. On Wednesday, November 4 at 7 p.m.
St. Thomas looks to continue its dominance in The Sun Conference and push their undefeated record to 3-0.
To follow both live video and stats: portal.stretchinternet.com/jwu
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