MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – The St. Thomas University Volleyball team has their season ended in the Sun Conference Quarterfinals, losing in five-sets to Warner University (25-12, 18-25, 18-25, 25-22, 8-15) on Tuesday night from the Fernandez Family Center.

St. Thomas opened up the match on a 5-1 run, as Carli Batsel and Krista Kolbinskie each recorded a kill in addition to three Royals errors. STU used the momentum and the energy from the #FernandezFanatics to extend their lead, opening up a commanding seven-point lead at 11-4 to force Warner to use a timeout. WU never cut the Bobcats to less than eight as STU closed out the set on another 5-1 run and dominated the Royals to win the first set 25-12.

In a back-and-forth second set, the teams traded points but STU fell behind by four at 9-13 before calling their first timeout of the match. The Bobcats fell behind by six-points following back-to-back attacking errors. St. Thomas to win four of the next six-points to cut the Royals lead to just four at 18-22 following an Arianna Bolinger kill and a WU error. STU was not able to overcome the deficit and dropped the second set, 18-25.

By dropping the second set to Warner, STU ended a modest four-set winning streak over the Royals. In the third set, the Bobcats fell behind by six points at 6-12 to call their first timeout. St. Thomas was unable to string a consistent rally together and dropped the set, 18-25 and fell behind in the match 1-2.

With their season on the line, St. Thomas needed a fourth set rally to force a decisive fifth set and extend their season. The Bobcats were trailing by five, at 7-12, following a four-point run by Warner.
STU began to chip-away, capitalizing off a WU error and a Bolinger kill to cut the deficit to just three. Warner responded with two more points of their own before Nathaly Alvarez and Bolinger once again recorded kills to force a WU timeout, following the break, WU had consecutive errors as STU came within one point. The set bounced back-and-forth, as the next 13-points featured four ties and three lead changes, to have the set tied at 20-20 as St. Thomas called a timeout. The timeout worked in favor of the Bobcats, as STU responded with three straight points as Kolbinskie recorded another kill and a service ace around a Warner error; the Kolbinskie kill to give STU the lead for good, pushed the senior over the 300-kill milestone on the season. WU rallied for two consecutive points to force STU to burn their final timeout of the set, Bolinger and Alvarez each added a kill to finish the set, 25-22, and send the match to the fifth and final set to determine the winner.

The crowd was energized following the exciting fourth set victory by STU as the two teams headed into a decisive fifth set, with the winner headed to the Sun Conference Semifinals to take on #2 seed, Southeastern.

STU fell behind early in the fifth set and switched sides of the court with the score at 3-8. STU rallied for three consecutive points, as Warner made two errors before calling a timeout. The break stalled the Bobcat momentum as Warner finished off the hard-fought victory, beating STU 8-15 in the final set.

The loss concluded the St. Thomas University season as the Bobcats fell short of reaching the Sun Conference finals for the first time since 2015. Overall, St. Thomas finished with an 11-15, 9-8 TSC record.

Bobcat Leaders (Match)
Krista Kolbinskie: 24 kills and 26 digs
Nathaly Alvarez: 32 assists, 25 digs and two block assists
Arianna Bolinger: 18 kills
Courtney White: three total blocks

Bobcat Leaders (Season)
Krista Kolbinskie: 301 kills, 39 service aces, 350 digs, and 42 total blocks
Nathaly Alvarez: 569 assists, 255 digs, 152 kills, and 17 service aces
Courtney White: 88 total blocks (15 solo), 129 kills and 151 digs
Arianna Bolinger: 262 kills, 33 service aces, and 215 digs
Victoria Philpot: 115 kills, and 81 total blocks (9 solo)