St. Thomas, Coe College meet in NCAA volleyball tournament

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The No. 8-ranked St. Thomas volleyball team will take on Coe College in the first round of the NCAA tournament Thursday, Nov. 13, at home after being named the host school in Monday’s selection show.

The Tommies (25-6) secured their 10th consecutive NCAA appearance after clinching the MIAC’s automatic berth by defeating No. 19-ranked Augsburg 3-0 in the conference championship Saturday.

Middle blocker Kelly Foley said the team wants to keep the same mentality of conference playoffs.

The St. Thomas volleyball team gathers before a match against St. Mary's earlier this season. The women secured their 10th consecutive NCAA appearance by defeating Augsburg Saturday. (Madeleine Davidson/TommieMedia)
The St. Thomas volleyball team gathers before a match against St. Mary’s earlier this season. The women secured their 10th consecutive NCAA appearance by defeating Augsburg Saturday. (Madeleine Davidson/TommieMedia)

“Every game is going to be a battle, and our wins last week showed us how hard we need to work for every point to keep our season going,” Foley said.

Coe College (28-8) is coming off a 3-0 sweep of Buena Vista University in the IIAC conference championship game. This marks only the second NCAA appearance for the Kohawks in the program’s history.

Outside hitter Rachel Schaefer leads the Kohawk offense with 434 kills on the season, while defensive specialist Alissa Wittenburg anchors a stout defense, tallying 596 digs this year, over 300 more than her closest teammate.

The Tommies will look to Foley and outside hitter Jill Greenfield to combat the Kohawk defense. Greenfield led the Tommies with 344 kills and was second on the team with 459 digs. Foley is coming off her record-setting third MIAC Player of the Year award after amounting 313 kills and a team-high 77 total blocks on the season.

Foley said the team needs to focus on one opponent at a time to ready for a high level of play.

“In playoffs and bracket play it’s easy to get distracted by other teams in the tournament, but right now the most dangerous team in the nation for us is in Coe College,” Foley said.