St. Thomas' volleyball team will play for the NCAA Division III championship on Saturday.
The No. 8 Tommies (39-1) beat No. 9 Elmhurst in a semifinals match as close as their national ratings are. The scores were 25-22, 25-23, 26-24.
Sophomore Jill Greenfield had 11 kills and 11 digs for the Tommies. Kati Wachter had 24 digs.
St. Thomas, which will play either Calvin or Christopher Newport at 6 p.m. Saturday in the final.
U crushed Huskers The No. 1-rated Gophers easily beat No. 9 Nebraska 27-7 in Lincoln after taking a 15-0 lead. The match started at heavyweight, the Gophers' strongest weight. Defending NCAA champion Tony Nelson won 11-2 for a major decision and teammates David Thorn at 125 and Nick Dardanes at 141 also had major decisions.
NSIC semifinals set UMD (28-3) thumped Winona State 25-16, 25-11, 25-16 behind junior outside hitter Kate Lange's 22 kills in the quarterfinals of the NSIC volleyball tournament.
In other matches, Southwest State (27-2) beat Minnesota State Mankato 25-11, 26-24, 25-16. McKell Anderson led the Mustangs, who hit .379 and made only eight errors.
Host Concordia (St. Paul ) beat Augustana 25-16, 25-16, 25-19 behind Ashley Murtha's 15 kills.
