Defensive specialist Kaiti Wachter’s 22 digs pushed the Tommies into the regional championship match, defeating Wisconsin-Eau Claire in three sets.
The victory marked the Tommies’ 31st consecutive season win.
St. Thomas will battle St. Benedict at 7 p.m. Saturday in Schoenecker Arena.
Coach Thanh Pham said it was exciting to see the whole team contribute to the win.
“All the kids stepped up and it was fun to see,” Pham said. “They played really hard and we hit for a high percentage.”
Outside hitter Jill Greenfield pumped her team up in set No.1 when she ripped a kill down the line, putting her team on the scoreboard first. Greenfield hit .300 with 11 kills for the match. The Tommies kept the momentum going when opposite hitter Sara Atkinson tooled the Blugolds’ block for two consecutive points.
Eau Claire fought back and tied the game at 20-20. It wasn’t until middle blocker Paige Brimeyer tipped the ball that St. Thomas locked in set No. 1. Brimeyer closed the set when she put the ball away, ending the first set 25-22 for the Tommies.
Brimeyer said the team’s defense contributed to the win.
“We really worked on getting a lot of digs so that we could run transition balls,” Brimeyer said.
Brimeyer’s kill started St. Thomas off in set No. 2. Middle blocker Kelly Foley followed Brimeyer’s lead as she fired a shot down on an open net, putting the Tommies ahead 11-7. St. Thomas continued to dominate Eau Claire as middle blocker Mackenzie Piechowski clinched the point off her kill, putting her team at set point. Greenfield put the ball away for the second set 25-16.
Wachter said the Tommies completed what they wanted to accomplish.
“We did what we said we were going to do,” Wachter said. “We said that we needed to come out strong and play no matter what.”
Piechowski and Atkinson’s double block kept the Tommies rolling for set No. 3. The teams battled point by point until Blugold setter Emily Neave tipped the ball over, freezing the St. Thomas defense.
Scrappy defense by both teams proved to be the match’s determining factor when Potts housed the Eau Claire offense with her solo block, putting her team up 19-17. Atkinson pulled another kill, facing no block. It wasn’t until Foley’s deep shot that the Tommies clinched the third set 25-21 to win the match.
Wachter said the team knows what it needs to do in order to pull out a victory against the Blazers.
“We’ve played them twice, we know how they play,” Wachter said. “We just have to keep going further and play as a team.”
Pham said the team is looking forward to playing St. Ben’s for the championship title, a week to the day after the Tommies defeated the Blazers for the MIAC championship last Saturday.
“It will be an honor to play them again for the region championship,” Pham said. “Last time we played them, it was such a good match and the winner of that deserves to go to the regional.”