Middle blocker Julia Spacek tallied 19 kills Wednesday at Schoenecker Arena, guiding the St. Thomas volleyball team to a 3-0 lead against Hamline on senior night.
The Tommies (8-2 MIAC, 21-7 overall) fought hard to win two early sets 25-23 and 25-20. The team found its stride in the third set, crushing the Pipers (1-9 MIAC, 11-13 overall) 25-11.
Spacek and middle blocker Grace Bordson led the team with 32 combined kills.
“Between our two middles, they hit over .500,” coach Thanh Pham said. “Which means every other set was a kill … Every other time (they touched the ball) was a kill.”
It was a welcome victory for seniors Katharine Mallak, Audrey Erickson, Julia Spacek and Grace Bordson, who were honored before the game.
With St. Thomas ranking third in the MIAC under St. Ben’s and an undefeated Gustavus team, the win against No. 11 Hamline came as no surprise.
Spacek was surprised to see such a close match.
“We kind of stooped to their level a little bit at the beginning,” she said, “but once we came together and started playing at our level, then we started to execute.”
The Tommies also rallied in honor of their teammate Madie Kroehler, who was recovering from a concussion.
“She’s really like a big spark plug on the team,” Spacek said. “Missing her the past couple of days of practice and in this game was definitely a difference in terms of energy, and being able to compensate for that was a really big deal.”
The Tommies have a tough weekend ahead of them, facing Northwestern on Friday before a Saturday double-header against St. Catherine and top-ranked Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Those matches will be the last of the regular season as the team heads into the MIAC playoffs next week.
Tommie setter Katharine Mallak is confident her team will perform when it counts.
“We can’t control the match in two games from now, we have to focus on the one right in front of us,” she said. “So now we’re focusing on Northwestern on Friday.”
Sawyer Rutan can be reached at sawyer.rutan@stthomas.edu.