MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (October 8, 2022) – St. Thomas University (STU) Volleyball (9-4, 5-1 SUN) continues to roll though Sun Conference action with their fifth straight win. The Bobcats defeated Southeastern University (6-11, 2-4 SUN) in four sets on Saturday afternoon from the Fernandez Family Center Gym. St. Thomas took sets one (25-20), three (28-26), and four (25-15) while Southeastern took set two (24-26).
 
From the first serve, the feeling of the game was going to be gritty. Amanda Allende did what she does best and opened the match with the first kill. After sharing points and tied up at nine, Allende flipped the tone of the match recording three straight service aces. Both teams were very effective offensively with just seven errors total and hitting over .200. The Bobcats had the upper hand with a .282 hit percentage and 16 kills with four service aces.
 
Set two continued the battle as things evened up with Southeastern taking the set in win-by-two fashion. Although St. Thomas had more kills, the Fire had .086 better of a hitting percentage which was the difference maker.
 
St. Thomas came together all-around for set three picking up four blocks and hitting over .300. after Southeastern opened the match with a service ace, St. Thomas went on to break open a 11-4 lead. The Fire slowly started to chip away at the lead and ultimately took it at 20-17. After Head Coach, Whitney Battoe took a timeout, Allende came back and took control of the match with back-to-back kills. A Fire attack error tied it all back up at 20. Kendall Brock had a big bloc to give STU the 24-23 advantage. Alexandra MacAskill would not allow the Bobcats to go down recording a monster kill to bring STU back in it at 25-25. Allende and Brock would end up closing it out with a kill each.
 
Fourth set was all Bobcats as they hit a match-high .357. with just two attack errors. The defense came up big again with four blocks and keeping the Fire attack to .050. Allende would record another three ace set, the second of the match. Brock had the final say recording the last kill.

Box Score Notables
Four Bobcats recorded double digit kills; Allende (17), MacAskill (12), Mariana Cova (11), Sana Dennis (10, season high).
Allende almost had a triple double with 17 kills, 11 digs, seven service aces (career-high).
Bianca Grassi had a phenomenal game with 11 digs in set on and 30 in total, while also picking up six assist.
Mia Thomas and Isadora Tavares evenly split in assist at 23 each.
 
This concludes the first round of Sun Conference play, besides the reschedule of the Webber International game, St. Thomas closed out round one 5-1, the one loss to Ave Maria who sits at undefeated on the top of the conference.

St. Thomas will head into round two and host Ave Maria on Wednesday, October 12 from the Fernandez Family Center Gym.