St. Thomas University (STU) Volleyball (10-4, 6-1 SUN) took picked up their second upset victory of the season taking down newly receiving votes Ave Maria University (12-3, 5-1 SUN) in five sets. This was also the first conference loss for the Gyrenes as they ended a 12-game win streak.
St. Thomas had a very slow start in set one and fell 25-13, one of the worst set losses on the season. The Bobcats have shown their resilience before and displayed it again tonight in the Fernandez Family Center Gym in front of a lively crowd.
Set two also had a slow start as AMU scored three straight points to continue their hot start. St. Thomas would have to slowly start chipping away and did so as Bianca Grassi recorded a service ace to tie it all at seven. The Gyrenes would go ahead and give themselves another two-point advantage. Amanda Allende helped bring it all even at 12 piggy backing off two Gyrene attacking errors. In a much needed set win for the Bobcats, fought for very points to try and flip the scoreboard. Tayla Barnes would be the switch STU needed getting a monster kill to take the 19-18 lead. Ave Maria would not let the Bobcats off that easy as down by two rallied back to make it 22-21. Allende and Mariana Cova would team up for the final kills to take it 29-27 final.
The third set was still just as thrilling and entertaining going 25-20. St. Thomas hit a match best .191 in this set with just four attack errors. An Ave Maria service error started things off and followed up with an Allende kill to set the tone. Alexandra MacAskill had a big block on the best Gyrene attacker to take a 7-3 lead. The set would be tied up twice at 12 and 16 but the Bobcats would never allow for AMU to take the lead. The final four kills came from four different players showing the depth of the Bobcat lineup.
Set four started with a 3-0 Bobcat lead as the momentum continued from set two and three. St. Thomas had control of most of the set until Ave Maria flipped the score late at 18-17. From this point on the Gyrenes finished the set on a 8-3 run.
It would all come down to set five, winner take all. The win would tie both teams at first place on the standings. This set had everyone on their feet, in on every point in the FFC Gym. Allende would do what Allende does best and lock in on the big moment. After getting an attack error in the first attempt, the senior would put away two untouchable kills for the 3-1 lead. The Gyrenes would fight to take the advantage at 8-7 as the teams switched sides. The switch would do the trick as the Bobcats would turn the tables and hold the advantage the rest of the way. Allende had the most two crucial plays in a big block ad then delivering the final kill to take the match.
St. Thomas now extends their win streak to six straight and have tied Ave Maria for first place in the standings.
#MVBobcats
Amanda Allende – 21 kills (ties career-high), 11 digs (11th double-digit kill game, fifth straight)
Tayla Barnes – 11 kills, block (second double-digit kill game)
Bianca Grassi – 31 digs, two assists, service ace
Isadora Tavares – 25 assists, three digs
Original source can be found here.
Alerts Sign-up