After dropping a season-high seven straight matches, middle blocker Whitney Lloyd and the St. Thomas volleyball team earned a hard-fought 3-2 victory over St. Olaf Wednesday night at Schoenecker Arena.

The Tommies (8-15 overall, 3-5 MIAC) started out strong and easily took the first two sets 25-18 and 25-17. They then lost the next two and headed into the fifth set with little momentum. St. Thomas regained its rhythm and soared back with a 9-2 run in the decisive set to seal the match.

Coach Thanh Pham wasn’t surprised by the team’s performance against the Oles (8-17 overall, 0-8 MIAC) but was happy with the win.

“I thought we did some good things and not-so-good things, but in the fifth set, when St. Olaf came out with some fire, I was glad to see that our girls were able to respond.”

Lloyd led the Tommies with five assisted blocks and a career-high 19 kills. She credited her teammates for the win.

“We played strong as a team, and we really fought together,” Lloyd said.

The Tommies had to battle back after losing the third and fourth sets 20-25 and 24-26. Pham said his team “Never lost faith in the fifth set.”

“Third set we tried some new kids and it didn’t quite work out,” Pham said. “Fourth set, again we got caught behind the eight ball and had a slow start and had to fight all the way back.”

Outside hitter Taylor Lewis helped the team with 14 kills, 15 digs and two aces. With only three regular-season games remaining, she knows what has to happen for a successful finish.

“Definitely win the last three, that’s for sure. Hopefully we’ll make it into the MIAC playoffs and then we’ll go from there,” Lewis said.

St. Thomas is currently ranked eighth in the MIAC and is set to play Bethel at home on Saturday.

Jack Burke can be reached at jtburke@stthomas.edu