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All good things must come to an end.

The volleyball team learned that lesson the hard way Friday, losing to Juniata College of Pennsylvania in straight sets in the NCAA quarterfinals in St. Louis.

St. Thomas hung tight with Juniata in the first two sets, but was unable to close out a game. The Eagles won 25-22, 25-22 and 25-16 to end St. Thomas’ season less than a week after it became the first team in program history to reach the NCAA Championships.

“It was two really good teams going at it,” coach Thahn Pham said. “We just didn’t make enough plays at the end.”

Experience certainly played a factor. Juniata has advanced to the NCAA Championships every single year it has been held, which helped in the closing points of a tight first game.

“I think when it got to 20 points, we didn’t execute as well as we usually do,” senior Alesha Nelson said. “When we got an opportunity we didn’t do what we needed to do to get the points.”

St. Thomas had jumped out ahead early thanks to some errors by Juniata. The Tommies led 15-10, but the Eagles outscored St. Thomas 15-7 the remainder of the set.

“They’re a tough team. They came out with some big plays,” Nelson said.

St. Thomas responded well to those big plays in the second set as it again held a lead until the closing points. The teams went back and forth, neither leading by more than three points, all the way up to a 21-21 tie. The Tommies dropped the next two points, and Pham called a timeout to try to spark a set-saving rally.

“During the timeouts it was just, ‘Let’s play our brand of volleyball,’” Pham said.

Senior All-American Emily Foster set up Nelson for a kill on the next play, bringing the lead down to one and raising the hopes of the Tommies and the contingent of fans that had followed the team to St. Louis. But Juniata responded and freshman Taylor Harpster had her biggest kill of the match, propelling the Eagles to a 25-22 win.

“Everyone was trying to stay together,” Nelson said. “We wanted to make sure we were there to support each other whether we did good things or bad things.”

Down 2-0, St. Thomas tried to climb back into the match but fell behind early. The Tommies trailed 15-7 before mounting a rally, which at one point brought the Juniata lead down to as little as two points. But the Eagles again showed off their championship pedigree and closed out the set, and the match, with a 9-2 run.

Following the loss, St. Thomas players and coaches looked back at their season and pointed to the unprecedented success the team has enjoyed to this point.

“It’s bittersweet,” Nelson said. “It’s been such an awesome experience.”

“We made history for everyone … in the St. Thomas community,” senior Jill Osborne said. “No one has ever made it to nationals.”

Jordan Osterman can be reached at jrosterman@stthomas.edu.