MINNEAPOLIS — Senior outside hitter Fran Egan had a team-leading seven kills in a three set loss to the University of Minnesota Thursday in the Diet Coke Classic at Maturi Pavilion in Minneapolis.
This marked the first Division I competition for St. Thomas (1-8) against No. 11 ranked Minnesota (4-3) ending with a score of 25-14, 25-8 and 25-7.
“I think the first 10 points were really nerve wracking because I’ve never played in front of this many people,” Egan said. “It was fun to get to play against them and to also get to play in this environment, it’s definitely an experience that I didn’t think I would have.”
Egan’s seven kills were accompanied by six kills from first-year outside hitter Lauren Galvin, who also had a team-leading five digs.
The Tommies may have only scored 29 points total between the three sets, but coach Thanh Pham has faith that his team is improving.
“When you play a team like Minnesota, the first thing you have to do is control your side of the map, control your emotions and control how you respond to this type of environment,” Pham said. “For our players, I knew it was going to be a learning curve.”
Pham believes that tomorrow’s match will go more in their favor. The Tommies face Iowa State at 5 p.m. tomorrow for the second day of the Diet Coke Classic at Maturi Pavilion.
“Hopefully if we can see that if we execute little things, it does matter,” Pham said. “I think that our whole team has been working hard for the last seven weeks, and we’re just excited to play tomorrow.”
Cam Kauffman can be reached at kauf8536@stthomas.edu.