Two Saints reached the 1,000 kill plateau Wednesday to lead the Thomas More College volleyball team to a tri-match sweep of Geneva College and DePauw University inside the Connor Convocation Center in Crestview Hills, Kentucky.
With the sweep, the Saints improve to 20-3 overall and 17-0 in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC). With the win over Geneva Thomas More clinched the PAC regular season and the No. 1 seed in the upcoming PAC Championship Tournament. The Saints will have a bye into the semifinals, which will be played at the Connor Convocation Center on Friday, Nov. 6.
The Saints defeated Geneva in the first match of the day by the scores of 25-21, 25-18 and 25-22. Senior outside hitter Stacy Howell (Cincinnati, Ohio/Glen Este) led the Saints’ offensive attack with a match-high 12 kills. Senior middle hitter Jessica Knaley (Florence, Ky./St. Henry) and junior right side Paige Noday (Cincinnati, Ohio/McNicholas) each finished with nine kills. Sophomore setter Jenna Fessler (Fort Mitchell, Ky./Beechwood) paced the offense with 33 assists.
Knaley led the Saints’ block party with five total blocks, while Howell added three. Junior outside hitter Marisa Meyer (Cincinnati, Ohio/Seton) led the team in digs with 10, while Howell and sophomore defensive specialist Rachel Bronner (Reading, Ohio/Mount Notre Dame) each finished with nine.
In the second match of the day for the Saints, DePauw won the first set 25-23 and the second set, 25-16, but Thomas More rallied and won the third set 25-22, the fourth set 25-16 and the fifth set 15-12 for the 3-2 victory. On her second kill of the match, Howell reached 1,000 career kills and on her 22nd kill of the match, Knaley registered her 1,000th career kill.
Howell and Knaley led the Saints’ offensive attack as they each had 22 kills, while junior middle hitter Alexis Bierbaum (Cincinnati, Ohio/McAuley) added nine kills. Fessler paced the offense with 57 assists and finished with a team-high four service aces.
Bronner led the defense with 31 digs. Meyer finished with 17 digs and Fessler added 10, while Knaley led the team in blocks with three.
Thomas More returns to action on Saturday, Oct. 24 when it travels to Hanover, Indiana for a non-conference tri-match. The Saints will play Bluffton University at 3 p.m. and host Hanover College at 5 p.m.
From TMC Athletics