MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – St. Thomas University's Volleyball team (5-10, 4-3 TSC) lost a five-set heartbreaker to Sun Conference neighbor, Florida Memorial (8-6, 2-4 TSC) on Tuesday night.

St. Thomas opened up the first set of the match with an early 6-0 run against Florida Memorial, with Nathaly Alvarez leading the way with a service ace included in her seven consecutive serves. The Bobcats were able to capitalize off several Lion errors to pad the lead and extended their lead to 11-3. FMU clawed their way back into the match and cut the STU lead down to just two at 13-11 following a Bobcats timeout. Florida Memorial was able to claim their first lead of the match at 21-22, which was short-lived as Krista Kolbinskie recorded her third kill of the set to tie the match. St. Thomas rallied following the Kolbinskie kill, finishing the set with an additional three consecutive points to close out the set victory at 25-22.

Leading the match 1-0, St. Thomas looked to maintain their momentum from closing the set with four-straight points and opened the second set with five consecutive points to claim a 5-0 lead over Florida Memorial. The lions were able to take their first lead of the set with the score at 12-13 and once again Kolbinskie tied the set with another kill. The set went on to be tied another eight times in a back-and-forth affair, St. Thomas was able to claim a two-point lead at 24-22 following an Arianna Bolinger kill but was not able to close the set, allowing four-consecutive points by the Lions to drop the set at 24-26.

The third set saw the Bobcats up early once again, leading 3-0 following a Lucia Alvarez service ace. Florida Memorial responded by taking a 5-6 advantage over St. Thomas before the Bobcats came roaring back with eight consecutive points to reclaim the lead at 13-6 as senior, Courtney White lead the way for STU. St. Thomas did not let Florida Memorial back into the set as Victoria Philpot shutdown the Lions offense, recording three solo blocks in the set as the sophomore was a dominant presence at the net throughout the match.

St. Thomas was never able to claim a lead in the fourth set, dropping the set and allowing Florida Memorial to force a fifth and final set in the Sun Conference match-up, by winning the set 21-25.

In the fifth and final set of Tuesday night's Sun Conference match-up, St. Thomas had their backs against the wall, trailing 9-6 before rallying for four-consecutive points to take a 10-9 lead. FMU responded by running off four-
consecutive points of their own to force a STU timeout as the Bobcats trailed 10-13. Kolbinskie once again put the team on her back, recording back-to-back kills with Sophia Deaguero serving to tie the match at 13-13. The Lions defense forced two-straight stops and completed the upset in five-sets over the Bobcats by winning the final set, 15-13.

Bobcat leaders:
Krista Kolbinskie: 18 kills/ 14 digs
Nathaly Alvarez: 29 assists
Lucia Alvarez: six service aces
Victoria Philpot: three solo blocks (10 total)
 
St. Thomas will return to action against Sun Conference opponent, Southeastern University on Friday, October 5^th from the Fernandez Family Center with the match slated to begin at 7 p.m. Come out and support!