Volleyball falls in tight 3-0 match to South Dakota

ST. PAUL, Minn. - St. Thomas pushed South Dakota to the brink in multiple sets Thursday night at Schoenecker Arena but came up short in a 3-0 loss (21-25, 26-28, 22-25). The Tommies held late leads in each of the first two sets before the Coyotes rallied in both, pushing UST's record to 14-7 overall and 7-3 in the Summit League.

SCORING SUMMARY
Set One: St. Thomas jumped out to a 3–1 lead following two South Dakota attack errors and a kill from Tezra Rudzitis. The Tommies extended their advantage to 9–5 after a 3–0 run highlighted by a kill and an ace from Megan Wetter. The Coyotes responded with a 4–0 stretch to take their first lead at 17–16. Wetter tied the set again with a kill, followed by an ace from Anya Schmidt to briefly put the Tommies back in front, but South Dakota closed on a 6–1 run to take the opener.

Set Two: Ellie Gustafson opened the second frame with an ace and a 4–1 Tommie run capped by a solo block from Wetter. The set featured nine lead changes, with UST regaining momentum behind another Gustafson kill that sparked a 4–0 run and a 13–10 lead. St. Thomas extended its cushion to 18–13 after a block from Schmidt and Wetter and later reached set point at 24–22 following a Rudzitis kill. The Coyotes, however, rallied again late, closing on a 6–2 run to edge out a 28–26 win.

Set Three: The Coyotes carried their momentum into the third set, taking an early 10–4 lead. St. Thomas clawed back, eventually tying the frame at 17–17 on a Rudzitis kill before an ace from Gustafson gave the Tommies a brief 18–17 lead. South Dakota answered immediately out of a timeout with a 3–0 run fueled by two kills and a block and maintained control the rest of the way to secure the match sweep.

TOMMIE TIDBITS
· Megan Wetter led St. Thomas with 11 kills, marking her team-leading eighth match this season with double-digit kills, and added three blocks.
·      Morgan Kealy recorded her 39th career double-double and 12th of the season with 28 assists and 13 digs.
·      Ella Voegele led the defense with 15 digs and contributed five assists.
·      St. Thomas hit .119 as a team compared to South Dakota's .189, with both teams totaling 41 kills.
·      The Tommies finished with 24 attack errors, while the Coyotes committed 16.

QUOTEABLES
Head Coach Thanh Pham's thoughts following the loss to South Dakota:
"South Dakota is a very talented team and there's a reason why they made the national tournament and won our conference tournament last year. They showed us some weaknesses we need to correct and we're just going to keep moving forward and improving. I still like our positioning and how hard our girls have worked this year. We need to work and improve to have another shot at them, hopefully, in late November. Their setter and outsides did a really good job of keeping the ball in play when they needed to and they took some big swings, and we need to learn from that."

UP NEXT
St. Thomas travels to Kansas City on Saturday, Nov. 1 to take on the Roos with a first serve of 1 p.m.

FOLLOW ALONG
For more information on St. Thomas Volleyball, follow along on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram at @tommievball. Tommie Athletics is now available on TikTok at @TommieSports.

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-- St. Thomas Athletics --

Volleyball falls in tight 3-0 match to South Dakota

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Team Stats

Megan Wetter

Tezra Rudzitis

Anya Schmidt

Ellie Gustafson

Players Mentioned

Ellie Gustafson

Morgan Kealy

Tezra Rudzitis

Anya Schmidt

Ella Voegele

Megan Wetter

University of St. Thomas Athletics