LAKELAND, Fla. (September 23, 2023) – Any court, any time, any day, the receiving votes St Thomas University (STU) Volleyball team (11-2, 3-0 SUN) comes ready to play. The Bobcats took on the Fire of Southeastern University (10-3, 2-1 SUN) in Lakeland on Saturday afternoon. St. Thomas took the conference matchup in four sets taking the first, third and fourth (25-14, 23-25, 25-21, 25-22). STU has now won six straight, three this week, and continue the best start in the Battoe era.
Led by freshmen Alexandra Bruno with 15, four Bobcats collected double-digit kills. Amanda Allende (13), Sana Dennis (12), and Tayla Barnes (10) joined Bruno. STU came out swinging in the first set hitting .312 with 14 kills. The defense held the Fire to a.037 average, holding them to just six team kills and grabbing four blocks.Â
Southeastern flipped the script in the second set hitting .345 and holding STU to their lowest hitting percentage of the match at .176. Prior to the second set, the Bobcats had not dropped a set since September 2, winning 15-straight.
The third set was aa defensive battle as the Bobcat defense held the Fire to just eight kills in the sett and hitting .185. Southeastern was able to string together five blocks in the set and keep STU to a .200 hitting percentage, but the Bobcats were still able to land 16-kills and four service aces.Â
In a fight to the finish and a 2-1 match lead, St. Thomas had their best set of the day by the numbers. The offense hit .333 with 18 kills and the defense added three more blocks to their total.
Amanda Allende and Payton Bertke earned double-doubles. Allende with 13 kills and 10 digs, while Bertke had 48 assists and 10 digs. The freshmen setter was the star of the match adding five kills and four service aces to her stat line. Tayla Barnes led in blocks collecting five with one solo. Bianca Grassi led in digs with 19 and a service ace.
St. Thomas will look to keep the momentum going as they continue through Sun Conference action welcoming Ave Maria on Wednesday, September 27.
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