UMSL-Minn.-Duluth | UMSL-Truman State

KIRKSVILLE, MO. – The University of Missouri-St. Louis volleyball team dropped a pair of matches on the final day of the Days Inn Bulldog Invitational on Saturday, hosted by Truman State.

The Tritons (0-4) suffered a 25-22, 25-17, 25-19 loss to No. 7 ranked Minnesota-Duluth during the morning before a 25-18, 20-25, 25-21, 27-25 loss to the host school that night.

Minnesota-Duluth 3, UMSL 0
Senior Liz Jaeger recorded a career-high 10 kills in the loss as the Tritons saw Minnesota-Duluth (3-0) rack up 49 kills and hit at a .296 clip, while UMSL finished with 36 kills and a .139 attack percentage.

The Bulldogs scored the match's first three points before UMSL rallied back to take its first lead at 10-9 on a Bulldog attack error. After junior Chelsea Burkle's kill made it 15-15, a 4-1 UMD run swung the score in the Bulldogs favor, 19-16, forcing an UMSL timeout. The Tritons responded with back-to-back points before another UMDL run made it 23-19. A block and a kill from freshman Jessica Ploss, along with a Jaeger kill brought the Tritons within 23-22 before the Bulldogs closed it out.

UMD took another quick lead in the second set at 6-2 before freshman Hannah Miller and senior Haley Woods teamed for a block to tie it at 9-9. However, Another Bulldogs run quickly made it 13-9 and UMD never looked back. The Tritons finished with 11 kills in the second frame and hit at a .143 clip, while UMD racked up 17 kills to go with a .306 attack percentage.

In the third set, after a Bulldog service error allowed the Tritons to pull within 9-8, UMD went on an 11-3 run to take a 20-11 lead before hanging on for the win after UMSL pulled within 23-18.

Woods added eight kills, while Ploss finished with six and added four blocks. Miller posted a team-best five blocks as the Tritons owned a 10-6 blocking edge.

Freshman Lindsay Meyer finished with 26 assists, eight digs and four kills, while Burkle led the team with 10 digs.

Truman State 3, UMSL 1
Truman State jumped out to a quick 6-2 lead in the opening set, which featured four kills from All-American Megan Sharpe. The Bulldogs extended the advantage to 14-3 as UMSL had just one kill in its first 12 attack attempts.

In the second set, it was UMSL who started out on top, 6-2, and after Truman State tied it at 8-8, the Tritons went on a 7-2 run with Burkle scoring three points on two kills and a block assist. Back-to-back service aces by Meyer then made it 18-11, forcing a second Bulldogs timeout. Meyer added a third service aces in the set for a 20-11 advantage and UMSL held off a Truman State rally, which included six unanswered points en route to winning its first set of the season.

Truman State jumped out to a 12-5 lead in set three. Back-to-back errors allowed UMSL to close the gap to 17-13 before the Tritons pulled within 22-20 on another Bulldogs error.

Two Haley Brightwell kills helped spark UMSL to an early 5-1 lead in the fourth set and extended it to 12-7 on a Woods kill before Truman State tied it at 14-14. From there neither team held more than a one-point lead until the final score.

Burkle led UMSL with nine kills and 14 digs, while Jaeger added nine kills, 10 digs and two service aces. Meyer finished with 22 assists, 11 digs and three service aces, while senior Jennie Manis dug up a team-best 16 balls.

Ploss had a solid match with eight kills and five blocks, while hitting at a .471 mark, committing no errors in 17 attempts.

The Tritons hit .143 as a team, and owned an 11-9 edge in blocks with Woods and Miller adding five and four, respectively. Truman State, led by Sharpe's match-high 22 kills, hit .237.

UMSL returns to the court next Friday-Saturday at the Middle of Everywhere Tournament, hosted by Missouri S&T in Rolla, Mo.