Gustafson, Schmidt each record double-doubles to lift Volleyball to 3-1 win

TULSA, Okla. – Fueled by a record-setting serving performance from Anya Schmidt, St. Thomas volleyball stormed past Oral Roberts 3-1 (23-25, 25-21, 25-15, 25-11) on Thursday in Summit League play. Schmidt delivered 10 service to tie the league's four-set match record and notch the program's first Division I double-double with double-digit kills and aces. The Tommies (10-4, 3-0 Summit) totaled 17 aces as a team, while Tezra Rudzitis led the offense with 15 kills on .480 hitting and Ellie Gustafson added her fourth double-double of the year to cap a commanding home victory.

SCORING SUMMARY
Set One: St. Thomas tied the set seven times, including at 12-12, but never managed to grab the lead. Oral Roberts built a four-point cushion at 18-14 and later held a 22-18 advantage before the Tommies surged back with a 3-0 run behind an Ellie Gustafson kill and service ace to pull within one. UST hit .195 with seven errors in the frame, while the Golden Eagles were more efficient at .286 with only three errors, holding on for the 25-23 win.

Set Two: The Tommies stormed out to an 8-2 lead with kills from four different hitters, an Ella Voegele ace, and a block assist by Morgan Kealy and Megan Wetter. St. Thomas held the advantage until a 5-0 Golden Eagles run tied the frame at 19-19. ORU grabbed its first lead at 21-20, but the Tommies responded with a decisive 5-0 finish, highlighted by a block assist from Addie Schmotzer and Anya Schmidt, followed by a solo block and kill from Tezra Rudzitis to secure the 25-21 win.

Set Three: The Summit League's top two servers bookended a dominant start, as Anya Schmidt and Allie Kopp each delivered an ace during a 7-2 Tommie run. St. Thomas later broke the set open with a 9-0 surge fueled by five more Schmidt aces to build its largest lead of the match at 19-8. Schmidt added two kills, including the clincher, to close out the 25-15 win. She finished the set with six service aces to give the Tommies a 2-1 match lead.

Set Four: After a 5-5 tie, St. Thomas capitalized on a Golden Eagles service error to spark a 5-1 run with kills from Morgan Kealy and Anya Schmidt and a block assist by Megan Wetter and Kealy. The Tommies later slammed the door with a 5-0 surge, highlighted by two Schmidt aces, as part of a dominant 14-3 finish. UST hit a match-best .571 while holding ORU to just .059 in the frame to secure the 3-1 victory.

TOMMIE TIDBITS

Overall, St. Thomas hit .306 from the floor and limited Oral Roberts to .193 while the Tommies outscored the Golden Eagles 79.0-46.0. The Purple forced ORU to 17 receiving errors for a .795 receiving percentage.
As a team, the Tommies finished with 17 service aces to tie the Summit League's second-most in a four-set match and tie for eighth-most in any match. The previous program DI record was 13 set Sept. 3, 2022 against Saint Louis. Allie Kopp, the league's second leader in aces to Schmidt, along with Ella Voegele and Ellie Gustafson provided two aces each while Morgan Kealy added one.
Anya Schmidt upped her own DI program record with 10 service aces, including six in the third set, for the program's first double-double of 10 kills and aces during the DI era. Her performance tied the Summit League record in a four-set match and tied for second in all league matches with 10 aces. She added 10 kills at the net, marking her second career double-double and first since tallying 12 kills and 12 digs on Aug. 31 at No. 11 Minnesota.
Ellie Gustafson recorded her fourth double-double of the season with 12 kills on .423 hitting along with 10 digs. She also began the Summit League schedule with a double-double of 15 kills and 12 digs during the win over Kansas City.
Tezra Rudzitis led the Tommies in kills for the fourth time this season with 15 on a .480 percentage. She added 1 solo block and one assisted for 16.5 points on the night.
Megan Wetter totaled nine kills on a .500 percentage with three blocks. Morgan Kealy recorded 46 assists, tied for her second most this season, and was 1 dig shy of her 36th career double-double.

QUOTEABLES
Head Coach Thanh Pham's thoughts following the Tommies' road win at Oral Roberts
"Oral Roberts was a quality opponent and made us have to execute at a high level. Anya came up big with timely serving and digs. Tezra provide much needed offense."

UP NEXT
St. Thomas takes the remainder of the week off before hitting the road again Oct. 9-11, traveling to Vermillion, S.D., on Thursday to face South Dakota and Brookings, S.D., on Saturday to play South Dakota State.

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-- St. Thomas Athletics --

Gustafson, Schmidt each record double-doubles to lift Volleyball to 3-1 win

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Team Stats

Tezra Rudzitis

Ellie Gustafson

Anya Schmidt

Megan Wetter

Players Mentioned

Ellie Gustafson

Morgan Kealy

Allie Kopp

Tezra Rudzitis

Anya Schmidt

Addie Schmotzer

Ella Voegele

Megan Wetter

University of St. Thomas Athletics