St. Thomas volleyball faced Miami (Fla.) Saturday afternoon at Schoenecker Arena, sweeping the Hurricanes 3-0 after a rocky first set.
The Tommies (2-4) knocked down the Hurricanes (0-7) 25-23, 25-17 and 25-19 in their first of two Diet Coke Classic games. But an 8-4 deficit in the first set caused coach Thanh Pham to call a timeout just 12 points into the match, hoping to settle his team down.
“I could tell that we weren’t playing the way we practiced this week,” Pham said. “I know that Miami is physically imposing, but in the first 12 points there, I was seeing a little bit of nerves, so I just wanted to call time, calm them down and let them know that I believe they could do this.”
The Tommies responded by rattling off an 8-2 run to even the set at 12-12. The Tommies and Hurricanes went back and forth, tying the match seven different times before Miami took back the lead 23-20.
St. Thomas then went on a 5-0 run to win the set after a block from sophomore middle blocker Reilly Kurth and sophomore outside hitter Anya Schmidt.
Schmidt said communication was the key to surviving the mental battle against the Hurricanes, who marked the first Power Four team the Tommies have hosted. Miami was also the team’s first-ever Atlantic Coast Conference opponent.
“We really leaned on each other,” Schmidt said. “To be able to have a team that can communicate as well as we communicate and actually truly trust your teammates, lets us continue to play free, play well and know deep down we believe that we can always come back.”
The Tommies carried that belief into the second set. After the Hurricanes opened with a 1-0 lead, the Tommies pulled away quickly, using back-to-back kills from senior middle blocker Addie Schmotzer and senior outside hitter Ellie Gustafson to force a Miami timeout at 17-9 before closing out a 25-17 win on a kill by Schmidt.
“I think we had a lot of momentum coming off the first set,” Schmidt said. “It was really hitting us that we can beat this team, and so we were able to just keep doing what we did well.”
Gustafson opened the third set with a pair of service aces to put St. Thomas ahead 2-0, and the Tommies continued charging forward. St. Thomas built its lead to 21-16 and forced another Miami timeout before finishing off the sweep 25-19.
Schmidt finished the match leading her team with 13 kills and 16.5 points, pushing her to more than 400 career kills and 500 career points just six games into her sophomore season. Schmidt was also named Summit League Freshman of the Year in 2025.
The milestones snuck up on Schmidt, who said she hadn’t been tracking her own numbers.
“To be honest, I didn’t even know my stats,” Schmidt said. “I’m excited, but it all goes to setters who can get me the ball, to the passers who put a ball up, too. Servers who serve aggressively enough that I can score points and do things like that. So, even though it’s technically an individual achievement, I think it reflects our team as a whole.”
St. Thomas will play No. 13 Minnesota at 1 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 13, at Maturi Pavilion in Minneapolis in their final Diet Coke Classic game.
Reagan Boschulte can be reached at bosc3829@stthomas.edu.
