MIAMI GARDENS, FLA. – The St. Thomas University Volleyball team (8-12, 6-5 TSC) defeated crosstown rival Florida National University (13-12) in straight sets (25-15, 25-18, 25-21) on Wednesday night from the Fernandez Family Center.

STU opened up the first set with an 11-4 lead, capitalizing off of Florida National errors as well as Krista Kolbinskie leading the offense with three kills to force the Conquistadors to use their first timeout. Following the break, the STU offense continued to roll, as Courtney White, Arianna Bolinger and Victoria Philpot each recorded a kill to extend the lead to double-digits over FNU. Florida National was only able to bring the set to within five-points before Kolbinskie stopped their rally with another kill, as the Bobcats finished the set with five consecutive points to cruise to the set win at 25-15.

In the second set of the match, St. Thomas and Florida National traded points in a back-and-forth affair to have the score drawn even at 8-8. STU claimed the lead there and did not look back, recording four straight points to push their lead to 12-8, following a White kill, FNU called yet another timeout. Kolbinskie came out of the break with a service ace to extend the lead to five at 13-8. The Conquistadors had their own run to cut the Bobcat lead to just two, Bolinger extinguished the rally with an additional kill. STU was able to cruise to a set victory once again, claiming the second set by a score of 25-18.

St. Thomas built a solid two-set lead and sought to finish off the sweep of Florida National, and quickly built a 4-1 lead over FNU in the third set. The Conquistadors overcame the deficit and staked themselves to a two-point lead over the Bobcats, leading 6-8. Kolbinskie and Nathaly Alvarez each responded with two-points apiece, as STU drew even once again at 10-10. Following the draw at 10-10, the set had six-lead changes as well as ties, before FNU built their largest lead of the match (three) to force a STU timeout at 15-18. The lone timeout of the match from Coach Skelton gave St. Thomas an opportunity to recompose themselves and rally for five of the next six-points to claim the lead once again at 20-19. STU rallied once again, being led by: White, Philpot, and Alvarez to finish the sweep.

St. Thomas is currently riding a three-match winning streak and wraps up their regular season with five straight Sun Conference match-ups as the Conference tournament looms for the Bobcats. STU currently sits in fifth place and has three matches remaining against teams not currently in the TSC Playoffs.
STU will be back in action on Saturday, October 20^th against Johnson and Wales from North Miami as the match is slated to begin at 2:00 p.m.