Volleyball takes one early during 3-1 loss to Summit League champs

ST. PAUL, Minn. – St. Thomas volleyball's early momentum wasn't enough Saturday afternoon as it came away with a 3-1 loss (25-21, 25-27, 16-25, 18-25) against Summit League regular season champion South Dakota State in Schoenecker Arena. Tezra Rudzitis and Anya Schmidt combined for 29 kills, in addition to 10 from Megan Wetter and 9 from Ellie Gustafson, as the Tommies fall to 16-8 overall and 9-4 in the Summit League.

SCORING SUMMARY
Set One: Both teams traded points early before a 4-1 Tommie run, highlighted by kills from Rudzitis and Gustafson, helped St. Thomas reach double digits first, 10-7. South Dakota State responded with a brief 5-1 stretch before Addie Schmotzer's first of four kills in the match and an ace from Ella Voegele swung momentum back to the Purple. St. Thomas extended its lead to as many as five multiple times, with closing out the 25-21 win on her fourth kill of the set. The Tommies hit their match-best .179 in the frame, which featured seven ties and four lead changes.

Set Two: The Jackrabbits jumped ahead early, 7-3, before the Tommies strung together an 11-3 run to build a 14-10 lead. SDSU remained close and later surged ahead with an 8-2 run to move in front, 21-19. The teams traded points down the stretch, with St. Thomas staving off multiple set points, but South Dakota State capitalized on a Tommie attack error to even the match. The set featured nine ties, and SDSU's blocking proved pivotal as the Jackrabbits totaled eight team blocks to UST's three.

Set Three: St. Thomas started strong again with three straight points, including two Rudzitis kills and an ace from Gustafson, but the lead was short-lived. South Dakota State answered with an 11-4 run to take control at 12-8 and never looked back. Rudzitis added two more kills and a block assist with Wetter and Schmidt to cut the deficit to two, but a 7-1 SDSU run created the final separation.

Set Four: After an early 3-3 tie, South Dakota State took control and never trailed again. Consecutive 5-1 runs helped the Jackrabbits extend the lead to 13-6, and while St. Thomas attempted to rally late, SDSU maintained its cushion to close out the match. The Jackrabbits hit a match-best .271 in the frame, marking their highest efficiency of the night as they improved their hitting percentage in each set.

TOMMIE TIDBITS

Anya Schmidt led the Tommies with 15 kills, adding seven digs, two blocks, and a perfect 16-for-16 in serve receptions. It marked her fifth match this season leading the team in kills.
Tezra Rudzitis totaled 14 kills and is now just three away from becoming the second Tommie of the Division I era to surpass 1,000 career kills.
Morgan Kealy tallied her 15th double-double of the season with 39 assists and 21 digs, just two shy of her career high.
Ella Voegele tied her season high with 20 digs, adding nine assists and three service aces while committing no reception errors on 27 attempts.
St. Thomas hit a season-low .091, its first match under .100 this year, while South Dakota State hit .171. The Jackrabbits outblocked the Tommies 19.0 to 6.0.
After going to extra points in the second set, St. Thomas has now played 13 extended sets this season, winning nine — two of their four losses in extra points have come against SDSU.

QUOTEABLES
Head Coach Thanh Pham's thoughts following the 3-1 loss to the Jackrabbits:
"South Dakota State is at the top of our league for a reason, and they showed a lot of composure. They're big. They blocked really well against us. We'll take things from this match and learn from it, implementing a few different strategies moving forward. It's always good to play meaningful matches in late November and that was one of them. It didn't go our way, but we still like our trajectory and hopefully we'll see them again."

UP NEXT
St. Thomas makes its final road trip of the season Nov. 13-15 as it travels to Fargo, N.D., to take on North Dakota State on Thursday followed by a trip to Grand Forks, N.D., to play North Dakota on Saturday.

FOLLOW ALONG
For more information on St. Thomas Volleyball, follow along on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram at @tommievball. Tommie Athletics is now available on TikTok at @TommieSports.

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-- St. Thomas Athletics --

Volleyball takes one early during 3-1 loss to Summit League champs

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Team Stats

Anya Schmidt

Tezra Rudzitis

Megan Wetter

Ellie Gustafson

Players Mentioned

Ellie Gustafson

Morgan Kealy

Tezra Rudzitis

Anya Schmidt

Addie Schmotzer

Ella Voegele

Megan Wetter

University of St. Thomas Athletics