ST. CHARLES, MO. – The University of Missouri-St. Louis volleyball team defeated Northwood, 3-1, on Friday at the Lindenwood Invitational to record its first win of the season. The Tritons then suffered a 3-0 loss to Emporia State to close out the day.
 
UMSL (1-5) is back on the court at 12:30 p.m. against Harding and at 3:30 p.m. against the host Lions.
 
UMSL 3, Northwood 1 (26-24, 17-25, 25-22, 25-20)
Senior Erin Walker led the Tritons with 12 kills and 26 digs, while freshman libero Alivia Brinker also tallied 26 digs. UMSL recorded 84 digs as a team, while Northwood collected 97.
 
Senior Lindsay Meyer dished out 36 assists as UMSL hit .144 as a team, recording 46 kills, which included eight each from junior Kara Roggemann and freshman Maddy Russell. Meyer added two service aces as UMSL overcame 10 service errors and seven Northwood service aces.
 
The Tritons hit .159 in the opening set and scored four of the final five points to take the 1-0 lead with Walker registering four kills and eight digs.
 
UMSL finished with just seven kills in the second set, but bounced back in the third set behind .238 hitting. Roggemann picked up five kills in nine attacks, while senior Hannah Miller added three kills and two blocks after moving from the right side to the middle.
 
UMSL jumped out to an early 12-4 lead in the final set and extended it to 21-9 before six unanswered Northwood points ignited an 8-2 run, pulling the Timberwolves within 23-17. Miller followed with a kill for the Tritons, but Northwood fended off three straight match points before Roggemann's kills closed out the match.
 
Emporia State 3, UMSL 0 (25-20, 25-23, 25-21)
The Hornets (4-2) hit .228 en route to the win, while the Tritons connected at just a .126 clip.
 
Russell led the offense with 14 kills, while Walker followed with eight kills and added 14 digs.
 
UMSL recorded 17 kills in the first set loss, but had nine errors, while Emporia State had just two errors and 14 kills.
 
A 5-0 run in the second set helped the Hornets to a 12-9 lead before it grew to 21-14. The Tritons then scored five straight, including back-to-back kills from Russell, to close the gap to 21-19 before tying it at 22-22 on a kill from senior Jessica Ploss. However, a Tritons service error followed and after another kill from Russell made it 23-23, Emporia State scored two straight for the win.
 
A late 4-0 run in the third set trimmed the Tritons' deficit from 21-15 to 21-19, forcing a Hornets timeout. However, Emporia State responded with two straight points to help garner the win.
 
Meyer recorded 40 assists and nine digs, while Brinker finished with 18 digs.