The third-seed St. Thomas volleyball team fell to second-seed Gustavus 3-2 in the conference playoff semifinals despite winning the first two games Thursday night in St. Peter.

The Tommies (22-8 overall, 9-2 MIAC) had a 17-11 lead in the third game, eight points away from a sweep, before the Gusties (22-7 overall, 9-2 MIAC) came roaring back, closing the set on a 14-5 run.

St. Thomas coach Thanh Pham expected a fight from the Gusties, who had defeated the Tommies 3-1 on Oct 1.

“Gustavus is a great team, and for us to fight with them in their house, it shows we can play with anybody,” Pham said. “Unfortunately, we didn’t execute at key times, and it cost us.”

The Tommies also held a 22-21 lead in the fourth game before Gustavus won the final four points.

St. Thomas put up a fight in the fifth and final set, leading at the halfway point 8-7 after a double block by Grace Duffy and Julia Spacek, but the Gusties won seven of the final nine points to secure the match.

“(The Gusties) were really good at mixing up their shots,” Pham said. “Sometimes they’d hit, sometimes they’d tip, and it kept us off balance.”

The Tommies won the first two sets 25-16 and 29-27 respectively.

Ellie Meyer led the Tommies with 26 digs.

Brooke Reichart finished with 19 kills to lead St. Thomas

Whitney Lloyd eclipsed 600 careers kills during the match. She had 12 against the Gusties.

The Tommies will now have to await their playoff fate with the only automatic bid to the NCAA tournament going to the MIAC tournament champion. Last season, the conference received two at-large bid.

While Pham was disappointed with Thursday’s result, he’s liked what he’s seen from the Tommies this season.

“To think that last year we were 9-17 and do a complete 180, I couldn’t be prouder of the girls,” he said.

Taylor Smith can be reached at smit9660@stthomas.edu.