Volleyball sweeps Concordia, advances to MIAC semis

St. Thomas huddles after a winning point. The Tommies defeated Concordia-Moorhead 3-0 at the MIAC Quarterfinals Tuesday night in St. Paul. (Carlee Hackl/TommieMedia)
St. Thomas huddles after a winning point. The Tommies defeated Concordia-Moorhead 3-0 at the MIAC Quarterfinals Tuesday night in St. Paul. (Carlee Hackl/TommieMedia) 

The St. Thomas volleyball team did not surrender a single game to Concordia-Moorhead, taking the MIAC tournament quarterfinal match 3-0 (25-22, 25-13, 25-14) Wednesday night at Schoenecker Arena.

St. Thomas coach Thanh Pham was happy how his team played in the victory.

“I’m very pleased how composed our team was,” Pham said. “Concordia did a lot of really good things tonight, and I thought our girls did a great job keeping their wits about them and countering that.”

The Tommies swept the Cobbers for a second time in Wednesday’s MIAC quarterfinals. St. Thomas defeated Concordia in the final regular season home match Oct. 26.

“It’s really weird to play a team two times in a week, but in playoffs you can’t pick your opponent, and you just have to go play,” Pham said.

After the Tommies held off a late Cobber comeback to win the first game 25-22, it looked as if Concordia was going to take control in game two, jumping out to a 3-1 lead until the momentum shifted.

Ellie Meyer dug multiple Cobber attacks during the rally with one shot bouncing on top of the net before Aubrey Erickson was able to get the kill and give the Tommies the point.

A few points later, Meyer landed a shot on the line to give St. Thomas a 5-4 lead in the game that it never relinquished.

The Tommies preserved momentum and never trailed in the third game, securing the 3-0 sweep.

“Our whole back row took over, dug out balls and gave our hitters a chance,” Pham said. “I’m really happy with their consistent effort.”

Meyer finished with 17 digs to lead the Tommies while Erickson also contributed 13.

St. Thomas now looks ahead to a MIAC semifinal matchup against Gustavus in St. Peter at 7 p.m. on Thursday. The Tommies fell to the Gusties 3-1 on Oct. 1.

“We are happy to be in the playoffs but we want to make a lot of noise,” Pham said. “We know that they beat us last time and we want to prove that we can play with them.”

Taylor Smith can be reached at smit9660@stthomas.edu.