OLATHE, Kan. (September 2, 2023) - St. Thomas University (STU) Volleyball (6-2) put their name in the map taking down two Top-25 opponents at the MNU Labor Day Classic. The Bobcats are currently among those receiving votes in the latest poll.

Getting back into action after a week off of official matches, STU took the trip to Kansas and showed out taking down no. 23 MidAmerica Nazarene and no. 21 Hastings. The one loss in the tournament came to no. 11 Columbia.

In the first match, Bobcats and Pioneers battled it out in five sets. Veteran, Amanda Allende, led the way to victory with a career high 24 kills. The freshmen and reigning setter of the week Payton Bertke, continued her momentum setting a new career high breaking the 50-mark for the first time in the early season with 58 assists. This game was also historic as Allende reached the 1,000 kill mark in her Bobcat career. she becomes the third Bobcat to do so joining former teammate Arianna Bolinger and Head Coach, Whitney Battoe. 

STU opened hot wracking the first set. After falling into some trouble, the team rallied from down 2-1 to force a fifth set. In set five, STU came out with the momentum hitting .207 while holding MNU to just .037.

In match two, directly following the five set comeback, STU fell to No. 11 Columbia 3-1. The Bobcat took set two 25-21. Freshmen, Alexandra Bruno stepped up with 16 kills. Bruno has four straight matches with double-digit kills and five out of the seven so far.

Closing out the classic was another top-25 matchup against no. 21 Hastings, the Bobcats came out and showed once again that they belong to break through the top-25 taking the match in four sets. Allende dominated falling one kill short of tying her career high set the prior day wih 23-kills. The graduate student recorded her third double double of the season adding 12-digs to her performance. With the third dig in the game for Bianca Grassi, she surpassed Angie Ardiles (1,099) as the new record holder for career leader in digs (1,200), she is currently sitting at 1,219 overall. Sana Dennis led the way in service collecting three aces against the Broncos.

The news doesn't stop with Allende as after including the kills from this tournament, she sits in second all-time in career kills (1,053), behind who is first overall at Coach Battoe (1,371).

St. Thomas will have a short week as they travel to Helena, Montana on Saturday, September 9, to take on Carroll College in a road Bobcat double-header.