Sophomore libero Ella Voegele led St. Thomas with 16 digs but couldn’t overcome the conference powerhouse Kansas City’s 3-0 sweep (17-25, 20-25, 22-25) Tuesday night at Schoenecker Arena.

The Roos (16-4, 7-1 Summit League) were top two in almost every major statistics category when they came to St. Paul to take on the Tommies (5-14, 1-7). Despite beating Kansas City in kills 37-36, the Tommies’ 23 errors kept them from turning the tide.

“I think we just need to be more disciplined and we weren’t tonight, but I think that we showed that we could play with them. We just, again, need to be more consistent in our efforts,” coach Thanh Pham said.

The Tommies held a 7-5 lead early in the first set, but a quick 7-0 run by the Roos gave them the winning edge. Five of the Roos’ points in that run were due to attack errors made by the Tommies. St. Thomas stayed aggressive throughout the set and blocked Kansas City’s attacks five times, while Voegele had eight digs to keep the Tommies’ alive. Ultimately, the team was unable to overcome their own errors and they dropped the set 17-25.

“It comes down to how hard you fight and I think we kind of let up in that sense, a little bit, when we lose the momentum,” Voegele said.

The Tommies came out on the offensive in the second set and jumped out to an early 11-2 lead. However, they eventually crumbled under the onslaught of Kansas City, which leads the Summit League in kills. Kansas City senior hitter Odyssey Warren, who tops the conference in attacks, connected on five kills in the second set and sealed a 25-20 win for the Roos.

“We have to be up on time. I think that our team knows what they need to do. It’s just reacting to what they actually see and being on time with it,” Pham said.

The final set was a closer affair, as no team led by more than four until the final point. The Tommies went back and forth with the Roos and the lead was exchanged six times before Kansas grabbed the lead with a five-point run to make it 23-19. A pair of kills by first-year hitter Ellie Gustafson gave the Tommies a glimmer of hope before a service error and a blocked attack gave the Roos the victory 25-22.

“We allow our players to make decisions and we want them to trust what they’re seeing. If they happen to make the wrong decision, it’s not the end of the world, but we just got to learn from it,” Pham said.

The Tommies will begin a three-game road stretch when they face South Dakota State at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 19 at the Frost Arena in Brookings, South Dakota.

Adam Mueller can be reached at muel7541@stthomas.edu.