University of St. Thomas Athletics
Bethel
Volleyball tops Bethel in 5, on to playoff finals
11/1/2007 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Junior Katie McCaffrey had 16 kills and five blocks and freshman Emily Foster had 22 digs and 53 assists as No. 13-ranked St. Thomas held off visiting Bethel in five games Thursday night in an MIAC volleyball semifinal playoff match.
The top-seeded Tommies improved to 6-0 in Schoenecker Arena this season with a 30-24, 32-30, 23-30, 24-30, 15-10 victory.
St. Thomas (25-4) advances to the playoff finals Saturday at home against second-seed St. Benedict, a five-game winner at home Thursday night over Concordia-Moorhead. The winner gets the MIAC's automatic berth into the NCAA playoffs.
Saturday's 7 p.m. match will be webcast via UST's web partner at www.mnsportsnetwork.com.
Bethel (23-8), which is seeded fourth in the region, will await Sunday night's announcement of the 61-team NCAA playoff field to see if lands an at-large spot.
St. Thomas, which started the week ranked first in the region, will host either a seven- or eight-team NCAA regional Nov. 8-10.
Bethel came within 23-22 in game one but the Toms pulled away to win. In game two, Bethel led 26-25 but the Toms pulled out a crucial 32-30 victory for a 2-0 lead in the match.
The Royals rallied to take games three and four. The decisive fifth game was knotted 4-4 before St. Thomas reeled off five consecutive points. The Royals never got closer than three points down the stretch.
For St. Thomas, senior Kristin Storrs added 13 kills and hit .407; freshman Molly Staton had 14 digs and three aces; senior Aly McConnell had 29 digs; and junior Katie Kremer had 21 digs.
For the Royals, Liz Glesne had 17 kills and 17 digs, Amy Anderson had 13 kills and four blcoks, Jennifer Stoa had 10 kills and six blocks, Laura Naig had 46 assists and nine digs, and Joslin Geisler had 35 digs.
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