Brooke Garcia tried to stay level-headed, Bresha Orange fought back tears and coach Keanne Burt couldn't contain herself. Add it all up, and it was a good night for the University of St. Thomas volleyball team.
UST swept Huston-Tillotson, 25-21, 25-22, 25-19, Friday in a critical Red River Athletic Conference match with regular season title implications on the line. The Celts (23-6, 8-3 RRAC) will meet Our Lady of the Lake University (15-12, 9-2) at 1 p.m. Saturday in the Jerabeck Activity & Athletic Center for a share of the RRAC title.
"We know that there's a bigger picture, and even though it's Senior Night, it's not the end for us," said Garcia, one of six Celts seniors honored in their final home weekend. "We have tomorrow's game and then the conference tournament. Then hopefully if we win that we'll go on to nationals, so we'll have time to be sad once that is all over."
There wasn't much to be sad about in this match for the Celts. It was a match that featured 22 tie scores and 11 lead changes, with UST playing in front most of the way. St. Thomas outblocked the Rams, who are top in the nation in that category, by a 13-6 differential.
"We knew we had to get clever with what we were doing offensively to get around their block," Burt said. "We've been working on putting that into play in practice, and it was a great night to get it on Senior Night. Half of our work is done. We have work tomorrow."
The Celts outhit the Rams, .165 to .041, in a match where both teams committed over 20 attack errors.
In the first set, Orange blasted a kill down the line, giving St. Thomas a 17-15 lead. Garcia and Emily Jaroszewski's block made it 19-17 during a stretch when both teams were trading sideouts. Senior Sophie Rigaut and Alyssa Ajlouny came up with another bench-raising block to keep the Celts ahead by two. Garcia slammed down a kill, senior Lauren Fernandez-Miller found a vacant spot on the floor for a winner, and Jaroszewski put away an overpass kill to end the first set.
St. Thomas won 71 percent of its sideouts in the opening set. Huston-Tillotson converted 60 percent.
The Celts went up 20-18 in the second set when Kelsie Walker dumped a ball for a kill. But the Rams battled back to tie it at 20 on a block by Cierra Harris and Tatyana Tyson. Garcia broke a tie three serves later when she blasted a ball down for a 22-21 UST lead.
"I focus on not necessarily hitting the ball straight to the floor, but hitting shots," said Garcia, whose offense has flourished of late. "What is the smart hit? What is going to get the team out of system?"
Her kill to break that tie, and a pair of punishing putaways by Orange down the stretch got the Rams out of system alright, giving the Celts a 2-0 lead in the match.
"Last year, the way we ended was kind of an eye opener for me," said Orange, who had 15 kills and eight digs. "I kind of felt like I didn't push to where I needed to be, so I told myself my mentality for my senior season was going to be, 'You go out with a bang. Make sure you leave a legacy here for St. Thomas.' That's what motivates me every game."
Midway through the third set, St. Thomas trailed 12-10 after a 4-0 Rams surge, but senior Kayden Thomas' tap started a 3-0 run to push the Celts up, 15-12. Rigaut had two kills and Orange another to extend the lead to 18-13. Orange sent a laser to the floor to keep the lead at five. Ajlouny's kill forced a sideout, and UST put the match away on the next point.
Garcia finished with 11 kills, 10 digs and four blocks. Senior Hannah Westerlage had 24 assists and nine digs. Fernandez-Miller had 20 digs and an ace. Walker added 16 digs.
Tiara Thompson had 10 kills, and Maranda Washington 18 digs for the Rams, who fell to 26-4, 8-3.
"It's bittersweet," said Orange, who leads the league in kills. "I'm very emotional, so I tried to tell myself, regardless of the outcome, 'Play as hard as you can and have fun.' I was going to cry myself through the match."
The Celts never let the emotions get to them, instead opting to feed off the energy in the JAAC.
"I don't think sports fans realize how much it means to the team to have it loud," Burt said. "The energy was electric and loud, and the team fed off it. It was a really good atmosphere and they just did really well re acting to it. We cried this week in practice, and we said, 'Get all your tears out because this weekend we have work to do.'
Jim McCurdy
