The St. Thomas volleyball team won the final two sets to secure a 3-2 comeback victory over Carleton Wednesday night at Schoenecker Arena.
The Tommies (14-6 overall, 5-2 MIAC) faced a 2-1 deficit going into the fourth set against the Knights (12-6 overall, 3-4 MIAC).
After being down 10-9 in the fourth set, the Tommies closed the set on a 16-4 run to tie the match at two sets apiece.
Luck proved to be on the Tommies side in the fifth and final set. With the Tommies leading 12-7, Madie Kroehler’s serve hit the net on the St. Thomas side before rolling over the top and falling in front of the Carleton players.
St. Thomas coach Thanh Pham has seen Kroehler execute similar serves before.
“Madie’s a great server and she gets a few of those in practice,” Pham said. “We’re pretty excited that it went over and were able to score.”
Pham liked how his team came together throughout the match, particularly during the comeback.
“This match was a lot a fun and I’m very proud of the girls for how hard they worked,” Pham said. “Even had we not been able to pull it out, our team chemistry is getting much stronger and overcoming adversity like this will really help us out.”
Katharine Mallak had 49 assists to lead St. Thomas.
Brooke Reichart led the Tommies with 18 kills. Whitney Lloyd and Ellie Etzell each finished with 15 kills apiece.
Ellie Meyer helped the cause with 26 digs, while Kroehler had 13 and Abby Louwagie had 11.
The Tommies’ next match is 5 p.m. Oct. 14 at Wisconsin-Eau Claire against Martin Luther College as part of the Sandy Shumacher Memorial Tournament. St. Thomas will also play Minnesota-Morris, Wisconsin-River Falls and Wisconsin-Superior over the weekend.
“Every team is a challenge for us, it doesn’t matter what their win-loss record is,” Pham said regarding the weekend schedule. “Regardless which team we face, every time we get on the floor we just need to get a little bit better.”
Taylor Smith can be reached at smit9660@stthomas.edu.