MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – The St. Thomas University Bobcats Volleyball team defeated the College of Coastal Georgia Mariners (25-18, 25-15, 18-25, and 25-20) on Saturday afternoon from the Fernandez Family Center to win their second Sun Conference match of the week. 

The first set was an all-around dominant performance by the Bobcats as a team, as they raced out to a 7-3 lead which lead to a CCG timeout. St. Thomas preserved the momentum following the break and extended the lead to 16-8. The Mariners were unable to stop the Bobcats rallies and STU coasted to the first set victory with a 25-18 score.

The STU offense maintained their efficiency in the second set and once again started the set with an early lead, forcing CCG to take another timeout with the score at 11-8 in favor of the Bobcats. The timeout seemed to work in favor of the Bobcats as STU came out of the break six of the next nine points to build a nice lead over the Mariners at 17-11. St. Thomas was able to go on two separate four point runs to create a near insurmountable lead and finish the set with another dominant victory to take a 2-0 lead in sets with a 25-15 win.

The Mariners from the College of Coastal Georgia were able to avoid the Saturday sweep from the Bobcats by taking the third set with a 25-18 victory.

In the fourth and final set of the match, St. Thomas forced another CCG timeout following a three-point run from STU off kills from Krista Kolbinskie and Arianna Bolinger to reclaim the lead at 11-8 for STU. STU was able to limit the damage on a modest run by the Mariners to tie the match once again by scoring on five of the next seven points to generate a 17-13 lead to separate the teams for good in the match. With the score at 21-16, CCG called their final timeout of the match, hoping to once again generate momentum and try and force the Bobcats to their second five-set match of the week. The timeout worked in favor of the Mariners as the STU lead was cut to just two points, which lead Coach Sam Skelton to use one of his only timeouts of the match with the Bobcats only needing three points to clinch the victory. STU rallied for three points to seal the victory and the match was ended with a block from Courtney White and Nathaly Alvarez.

Leaders for the Bobcats
Krista Kolbinskie: 24 kills, 13 digs and a .408 hit percentage
Nathaly Alvarez: six kills, 40 assists and 15 digs
Arianna Bolinger: 14 kills (career high) and 20 digs
Courtney White: nine kills and seven blocks
 
Up next for St. Thomas University is back in action for another home match-up against the Ave Maria University Gyrenes on Wednesday, September 9/19 from the Fernandez Family Center starting at 7 p.m. #FillTheFFC

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