St. Thomas University's fall sports program look for national titles

Sports Thursday, September 3, 2015

 

St. Thomas University is set to kick off the 2015 Fall sports season with volleyball, men’s and women’s soccer, men’s and women’s cross country and men’s golf, starting  new quests for college championships.

The Bobcats volleyball team looks to defend its Sun Conference regular season championship and earn a trip to the NAIA National Championships for the first time since 2003. The Bobcats return virtually their entire roster from the 2014 conference championship squad including first-team All-Conference performers Samantha Garza and Dana Nowaczky.

Also returning are second-team All-Conference selections Whitney Battoe and Marisa Markus, as well as Carly Durr and Sydney Maynard, who each were named Honorable Mention All-Conference in 2014.

St. Thomas University volleyball is under the guidance of head coach Callaway Mefford, who was recently named to the American Volleyball Coaches Association Thirty Under 30 list which recognizes the nation's top volleyball coaches under the age of 30. Mefford also secured the 2014 Coach of the Year Award from the Sun Conference.

In 2014, the Bobcats recorded a 23-8 overall record (.742), while posting a 13-1 conference record and winning the regular season Sun Conference Championship for the first time since 2001.

Head coach, Michelle Smith, heads the women's soccer team into the 2015 season looking to bounce back from a 7-8-1 overall record in 2014 and recapture some of the magic from 2013 when the Bobcats won the Sun Conference title and advanced to the NAIA National Championships. 

The Women's Soccer 2015 campaign began on Friday, August 28, with a home match vs. University of Mobile at Bobcat Field.

The men's soccer team under the guidance of head coach Felix Mats, finished the 2014 season strong with a dramatic come-from-behind win over Johnson & Wales to clinch a berth in the Sun Conference Championships. 

The Bobcats then took top-seeded SCAD Savannah to the brink of elimination before falling in penalty kicks. The 2015 team, which returns several key components and a strong group of new recruits, looks to earn its first Sun Conference Championship since 2012.

The 2015 regular season started for men's soccer on Sunday, August 30, with a home match against Texas Wesleyan at Bobcat Field.

Men's and women's cross country and men's golf both kick off their Fall schedules in September. The cross country teams head to Gainesville, Florida for the Mountain Dew Invitational on Saturday, September 19, while the men's golf team begins play on Sunday, September 20 with the Webber Fall Invitational.