Near triple-double headlines Friday wins over Army, Bryant

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Tommie Volleyball opened the Bryant Invitational Friday with back-to-back wins, headlined by a near triple-double performance by junior setter Morgan Kealy. St. Thomas extended its winning streak to five matches with a 3-1 win over Army (21-25, 25-15, 25-22, 26-24) and Bryant 3-0 (25-21, 25-16, 25-23) in Smithfield, R.I.

SCORING SUMMARY VS. ARMY
Set One: St. Thomas rallied late after trailing by six, 16-10, using kills from Ellie Gustafson, Megan Wetter, and Tezra Rudzitis along with an ace from Allie Kopp to pull within one at 21–20. Army answered with a closing 4–1 run, though, to take the opener 25–21.

Set Two: After a 10–10 tie, the Tommies broke it open with an 8–1 run fueled by an ace from Anya Schmidt, a kill from Addie Schmotzer, a block assist from Rudzitis and Schmotzer, and two more kills from Rudzitis. St. Thomas then closed strong, scoring seven of the final eight points to finish off a 25–15 win.

Set Three: St. Thomas opened strong behind Schmotzer, who notched two early kills, and Schmidt, who added an ace to give the Tommies a quick lead. Rudzitis was a steady force in the middle, while Wetter and Gustafson provided timely kills on the outside. Following a tie set at 22–22, Gustafson and Wetter came up with back-to-back kills to swing momentum to St. Thomas. Kopp then sealed the frame with clutch serving, firing in two aces over the final three points to lock down the 25–22 victory.

Set Four: The fourth set also went back-and-forth, with neither side leading by more than a few points early. Kealy gave the Tommies their first bit of breathing room at 12–8 with a service ace that forced an Army timeout. Army clawed back late and even gained set point at 24–23. Wetter hammered a kill to tie it at 24, and two straight Army errors handed the Tommies the 26–24 set win and a 3–1 match victory.

SCORING SUMMARY AT BRYANT
Set One: Both teams stayed within two points of each other through the majority of the opening set until the Tommies pieced together a 4-0 run, including kills by Emma Goerger and Ellie Gustafson and block assists by Rudzitis and Wetter to go ahead 23-19. Bryant pulled within two before kills by Wetter and Gustafson solidified the set one win.

Set Two: Bryant held first momentum of the second set with an 8-4 lead, but St. Thomas answered with a 7-0 run sparked by kills by Schmidt, Kealy and Goerger, one of two kills by Goerger during the stretch. Wetter helped the Purple close the set win with two kills during a 6-0 run to put St. Thomas ahead, 2-0.

Set Three: The Tommies and Bulldogs traded leads early before a 4-1 St. Thomas run gave the Purple its largest lead of the set, 11-7. The lead again traded sides through the set before a 22-22 tie late. Kills from Wetter gave the Tommies match point that was put away on a kill by Schmidt.

TOMMIE TIDBITS

St. Thomas relied on defense with 67 digs compared to 43 for Army and put down a season high 13 service aces to come away with its fourth straight win. The Tommies hit .236 from the floor compared to .246 for the Black Knights to extend the winning streak to five matches, the longest active streak in the Summit League and tied for the longest winning streak for the program since joining Division I.
The Purple followed to hit .232 and held Bryant to .119 attacking from the floor. The Tommies surpassed the Bulldogs in kills (41-32), assists (39-30), service aces (5-3) and total blocks (6-5).
Junior Morgan Kealy neared a triple-double with 32 assists, 21 digs, and 8 kills against the Black Knights. Her kill total set a new career high while the digs were her second most in a match through her career. Kealy followed with another double-double, the 32nd of her career, with 32 assists and a team-high 14 digs against Bryant.
Senior Megan Wetter paced the Tommies in kills for the second and third time over the past four matches with 14 against Army and 12 at Bryant. She has now hit over .400 in five matches this season, totaling a .407 attack percentage against the Black Knights (14-3-27) and .556 (12-2-18) against the Bulldogs. After recording one block against in the opening match, Wetter added four block assists and led the team with two service aces against Bryant.
Senior Tezra Rudzitis hit 11 kills on a .231 clip against Army followed by junior Ellie Gustafson with 9 kills, her first match of the season with fewer than 10. Freshman Anya Schmidt followed Rudzitis' 14.5 points with 13.0 against Army, totaling 7 kills and a career-high 5 service aces, tying the program's Division I era single-match record.
Serving as a referee in the match against Army was Carole Burke, who previously refereed the Tommies' 2012 National Championship title match over Calvin University.

QUOTEABLES
Head Coach Thanh Pham's thoughts following the opening win of the Bryant Invitational against Army
"The team started a little slow but the defense and ball control woke up in the second set. Morgan (Kealy) had a strong offensive match and powered us to victory. Defensive specialist Allie Kopp came up big as she closed out both the third and fourth sets. Overall, a good performance as we continue to learn on our journey."

Head Coach Thanh Pham's thoughts following the sweep over host Bryant
"Bryant played us tough. Our middle hitters carried us both hitting over .600. We will have to prioritize rest with another early match tomorrow. We continue to show our late game heroics and a belief that we will prevail. Our serving and passing was strong and we hope to continue to find our identity."

UP NEXT
St. Thomas concludes the Bryant Invitational at 9 a.m. Saturday with the second-ever meeting against Stony Brook.

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Near triple-double headlines Friday wins over Army, Bryant

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Team Stats

Megan Wetter

Tezra Rudzitis

Ellie Gustafson

Morgan Kealy

Players Mentioned

Emma Goerger

Ellie Gustafson

Morgan Kealy

Allie Kopp

Tezra Rudzitis

Anya Schmidt

Addie Schmotzer

Megan Wetter

University of St. Thomas Athletics