MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (November 11, 2022) - St. Thomas University (STU) Volleyball team (18-5, 12-2 SUN) started their playoff run inside the Fernandez Family Center Gym on Friday afternoon in the Sun Conference Semifinals. The Bobcats took on the fourth seeded Southeastern University Fire (14-13, 9-5 SUN) who reached the semis with a 3-0 sweep of Florida Memorial.
This five set thriller that ended in the favor of the Bobcats did not have much on their side in the early sets falling 0-2 to the Fire. For the first two sets, it did not look like STU could sneak at kill no matter how hard they hit there was a Fire player there. On the flip side, it seemed that every SEU attack found the floor inside the court.
Set one has Southeastern hitting .293 while St. Thomas hit .163. Service was in favor of SEU with four service aces.
Set two found much of the same game, although the Bobcats pushed a win by two as the team started to get in a grove towards the end. In set three, the stat sheet could never show the energy and passion that STU had to rally for a set one to keep their season alive.
In set four, St. Thomas showed why they earned the no.1 seed. hitting their way to a fifth set with a .297 average and holding SEU to .088. Five blocks from the defense and a Loreto Núñez Casal were the answer.
Set five was all about leaving it on the line for both teams. The Fire paced to a 4-1 lead to kick it off. The Bobcats called timeout, regrouped and rallied for two points to bring it within one. Trailing after the side switch 8-6, Amanda Allende locked in on the clutch gene that has been shown all year and kept this season alive.
In the packed FFC Gym you felt how much every point meant. Hope Leavy-Gaskins added in on the fun to extend the lead with two kills of her own and a block. It was only fitting that the Senior Allende got the final kill to send STU back to the title game and put an end to this one.
Box Score Notables
- Núñez-Casal tied a career high 21 kills, first time off the bench.
- Allende had a double-double with 15 kills, 18 digs.
- Leavy-Gaskins had eight clutch kills off the bench.
- Grassi lead the way with 26 digs.
- SEU decreased their hitting percentage from .293 in set one all the way to .000 by set five.
- Mia Thomas led with 30 assists.
- Barnes led with five blocks and Dennis with four..
St. Thomas returns for the first time since 2017, which was also in the FFC Gym. They will take on the no. 3 seed Keiser University on Saturday, November 12, at 12pm.
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