Volleyball survives past No. 2 South Dakota to advance to Summit League Championship

BROOKINGS, S.D. – A trio of double-double performances helped lead No. 3 seed St. Thomas volleyball past No. 2 South Dakota in five sets (25-22, 22-25, 16-25, 25-19, 15-9) to advance to the Summit League Championship match. Freshman Anya Schmidt led the Tommies with 19 kills while she and juniors Ellie Gustafson and Morgan Kealy tallied double-doubles, lifting the Tommies to 20 wins on the 2025 season.

SCORING SUMMARY
Set One: St. Thomas controlled much of the opening frame behind steady pressure at the net and timely serving. A 4-1 start grew into a 17-11 advantage as Ellie Gustafson and Megan Wetter fueled a 5-3 run. South Dakota countered to pull within two, 17-15, following a St. Thomas timeout. The Purple regrouped and leaned on Tezra Rudzitis late, as setter Morgan Kealy put the frame away with a kill off a feed from Ella Voegele.

Set Two: The Tommies stumbled early in the second set as four attack errors helped USD build a 5-2 cushion. St. Thomas fought its way back within one multiple times, including a 3-0 run capped by a Rudzitis kill to trail 21-20. St. Thomas saved a set point, but South Dakota converted on its second chance to even the match.

Set Three: The third set turned late after a competitive opening stretch. St. Thomas led until 12-11 before a 9-1 South Dakota run to pull ahead, 20-13, and the Tommies could never recover. Ava Ball closed the set with a series of kills as USD hit its stride offensively.

Set Four: Facing elimination, St. Thomas produced one of its most composed sets of the tournament. After trailing 11-7, the Tommies ripped off a 7-1 run behind Schmidt, Gustafson and Rudzitis to take a 14-12 lead, all behind Allie Kopp's pivotal service. The Tommies controlled the remainder of the frame with strong blocking—highlighted by Wetter and Gustafson—and Gustafson's late ace pushed the lead to 21-18. Schmidt delivered back-to-back kills before USD's final attack error sealed the set.

Set Five: St. Thomas wasted no time asserting itself in the decisive fifth. Rudzitis and Schmidt combined for three early kills, and two USD attack errors pushed the lead to 6-2. Another pair of blocks and kills from Schmidt extended the margin to 11-4 as USD burned both timeouts. The Purple kept their foot down as Kealy added a solo block and Schmidt continued her match-high scoring pace. Rudzitis produced the final two kills, including match point at 15-9, sending St. Thomas to the Summit League Tournament final.

TOMMIE TIDBITS

St. Thomas advanced to the Summit League Tournament championship match for the first time in its Division I era.
The Tommies rallied from a 2-1 deficit, winning sets four and five by a combined 40-28 margin.
The five-set match is the first for the team since the season-opening match against Ball State in Minneapolis.
Anya Schmidt turned in one of the best performances of her career with a career high 19 kills, including six in the decisive fourth and fifth frames, on a .378 hitting percentage. She added 14 digs for her fourth career double-double.
Tezra Rudzitis produced 17 kills on a .277 hitting percentage with two blocks and four digs.
Ellie Gustafson totaled 11 kills with 17 digs, her seventh double-double of the season. Ella Voegele led the Tommies with 25 digs while Morgan Kealy paced the team with 43 assists along with 13 digs, her 18th double-double of the season, to go along with four total blocks. Allie Kopp added 14 digs on the defensive end.
Megan Wetter and Addie Schmotzer combined for nine total blocks, led by Wetter with a team-high six.
St. Thomas forced extended pressure on South Dakota as the Coyotes finished with 30 attack errors. The Tommies hit .201 on the night compared to .176 for USD.
The Tommies are one win away from their first Division I conference championship and NCAA Tournament appearance.

UP NEXT
St. Thomas will face the winner of No. 4 seed North Dakota State and No. 1 seed South Dakota State at 6 p.m. Tuesday. The winner of the championship match will earn the automatic qualifier into the NCAA Tournament, which begins Dec. 4-5.

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-- St. Thomas Athletics --

Volleyball survives past No. 2 South Dakota to advance to Summit League Championship

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Team Stats

Anya Schmidt

Tezra Rudzitis

Ellie Gustafson

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