Volleyball falls in five sets in MIAC playoffs

L, 2-3
St. Olaf (W), November 05, 2009

No. 21-ranked St. Olaf scored the last five points of the match and claimed a 3-2 decision over No. 9-ranked St. Thomas in an MIAC volleyball playoff semifinal match Thursday night at Concordia University in St. Paul.

The Oles won 20-25, 25-21, 25-20, 23-25, 16-14. St. Olaf (27-3) has won 19 of its last 20 matches and plays in Saturday's finals at top-seed St. Ben's, a 3-1 winner over Concordia-Moorhead.

The Oles ended an eight-match losing streak in the series with the Tommies, including a 3-1 home loss seven weeks ago. They are now 3-0 this season in five-set matches.

They led 16-10 in the fourth set with a chance to close out the match, but the Tommies (24-7) rallied to win and stay alive.

The Toms broke to leads of 5-1 and 14-11 in the fifth set, but St. Olaf finished strong for the win. UST appeared for an instant to have the match won at 15-12, but a line call was overruled to continue play, and St. Olaf capitalized.

Kim Smisek had 26 kills, hit .288 and added 18 digs for St. Olaf. Kelly Prunty added 54 assists and 11 digs. Katie Wolfram had 15 kills and Alyssa Williams had 34 digs. The Oles hit .195.  

The Tommies, who hit just .155, had a five-match win streak halted and lost to a conference foe for just the second time in three seasons covering 43 matches. Kyley Crotty had 13 kills and 25 digs, Katie Bonine had 10 kills and nine digs, Jill Osborne had 17 kills, Alesha Nelson had 15 kills and hit .303, Emily Foster had 52 assists and nine digs, Molly Staton had seven aces and nine digs, and Kaitlin Wachter had  13 digs.

Foster, just a junior, surpassed 4,000 career assists and now has 4,039.

The Toms will await Monday's 10 a.m. NCAA playoff field announcement to see if they receive an at-large berth.

In its four five-set losses thus far in 2009, UST lost three by two points and another by three points.  Nine of the Toms' 15 losses the last three seasons have come in five sets.

Click here for box score:

http://www.tommiesports.com/vlbl/stats/soc-ust.htm

Click here to view more Greg Smith action photos:

www.gsmithsports.com

Tori Jones (1) (Greg Smith photo)

Kaitlin Wachter (Greg Smith photo)

Kyley Crotty (Greg Smith photo)

Jill Osborne (19) (Greg Smith photo)

Katie Bonine (2) (Greg Smith photo)

Emily Foster (19) and Jill Osborne (19) (Greg Smith photo)

Emily Foster (24) (Greg Smith photo)