Fredericton, NB- The St. Thomas University Tommies defeated the University of King's College Blue Devils 3-1 (25-20, 25-22, 22-25, 25-15) on Sunday evening at the Lady Beaverbrook Gymnasium.
With the win the Tommies guaranteed they will finish second in the ACAA securing a first-round bye during the ACAA Championship tournament.
This game marked the final home game for the Tommies and marked their annual grad game, where they honour their graduating players. This year's graduating players are Mija MacDonald, Jenna DeGooyer, Olivia Ormond and Krysteena Clements. The Tommies also honoured the Blue Devils graduating players Taryn Neufeld and Isabelle Roach.
The Tommies would jump out to an early 2-0 lead in the match thanks in large part to Megan Mills and her game high 11 kills. With their regular starting setter mending some injuries the Tommies turned to Caitlin Jones once again to set for the team.
"I can't say enough about our girls. They are tired, they are beat up, we have one setter out and the other had shin splints and limited jumping ability and we still got two wins this weekend," said Tommies head coach, Don McKay.
The Blue Devils refused to go down without a fight as they used the powerful swings of Abby Hourigan and Katie Cook, who would both finish with 10 kills in the match, to battle back to a 25-22 third set victory to prolong the match.
The fourth and final set would end with a Hannah Millier kill off the block to give the Tommies the win and the bye, which McKay couldn't be happier to get for his team.
"It's huge for us," said McKay about the bye. "It gives that extra amount of time and only having to play two matches instead of three if you're lucky enough to make it to the finals. It makes a huge difference in terms of the body."
The Tommies will close out their regular season in Sackville, NB against the Mount Allison University Mounties on Saturday, February 22nd, while the Blue Devils will host the Dal AC Rams that same day, before closing out their regular season against the 1st place Holland College Hurricanes.