ST. LOUIS, MO. – The University of Missouri-St. Louis volleyball team rallied from two sets down, but lost a five-set match to McKendree Friday night in Great Lakes Valley Conference action.
 
After dropping sets one and two, 28-26 and 25-21, UMSL took sets three and four, 25-16 and 25-19 to force the decisive fifth set, which the Bearcats won, 17-15. McKendree fended off two set points by the Tritons and scored the final three points to garner the win.
 
UMSL slips to 11-14 overall, including 5-7 in the GLVC, while McKendree improves to 16-9 and 10-2 in the league.
 
In a match that took two hours and 13 minutes and featured 50 ties and 20 lead changes, both teams combined for 202 digs and 430 attack attempts.
 
The Tritons had four players with double-doubles, including freshman Maddy Russell (18 kills, 18 digs), sophomore Gina Pezze (17 kills, 15 digs), senior Lindsay Meyer (37 assists, 23 digs) and senior Erin Walker (21 digs, 10 assists).
 
UMSL hit .152, recording 60 kills, while McKendree finished with 65 kills and hit .115. Junior Lexi Rogers tallied seven blocks to help the Tritons to an 11-9 edge in blocks, recording four of those in the set three win, in which UMSL switched from a 6-2 offense to a 5-1 offense. The Tritons hit .290 in that frame after combining for a .126 attack percentage in the first two sets.
 
UMSL closes out its current four-match homestand tomorrow, hosting Illinois Springfield at 3 p.m.