PENSACOLA, FLA. – The University of Missouri-St. Louis volleyball team opened the 2015 season with a pair of losses at the Hampton Inn-vitational, hosted by West Florida, on Friday.
 
The Tritons were swept by St. Leo and the host Argonauts. Both schools are coming off NCAA Tournament appearances.
 
UMSL will wrap up tournament play tomorrow against Bridgeport and No. 3 ranked and defending national runner-up Southwest Minnesota State.
 
St. Leo 3, UMSL 0 (25-21, 25-21, 27-25)
The Tritons put up 10.5 blocks, but the Lions still hit .200 as a team compared to UMSL's .124.
 
St. Leo connected at a .256 clip in the opening set, scoring the final four points and six of the final seven to help erase a 15-11 deficit. UMSL trailed 11-7 before eight straight, including three on kills from senior Jessica Ploss.
 
Back-to-back kills by senior Hannah Miller in set gave UMSL a 14-9 advantage before a Lions attack error made it 17-13. St. Leo chipped away and later scored six unanswered to take a 23-19 lead.
 
In the third set, the Tritons fended off match point twice  on kills from freshman Maddy Russell and Ploss, before the Lions scored two straight to end the contest.
 
Miller finished with nine kills, while Ploss had eight kills with no errors in 15 attempts to go with four blocks. Junior Lexi Rogers tallied five blocks.
 
Freshman Alivia Brinker recorded 11 digs, while Russell added 10. Senior Lindsay Meyer finished with 17 assists and nine digs.
 
West Florida 3, UMSL 0 (25-14, 25-13, 25-22)
The Argonauts hit .342, racking up 53 kills to UMSL's 28 kills and .152 hitting attack.
 
Russell led the Tritons with nine kills and 10 digs, while Meyer recorded 17 assists. Freshman Olivia Gillum tallied 11 digs.  
 
UMSL was just .063 offensively in the first two sets, but tallied 15 kills behind a .306 clip in the third frame. However, West Florida hit .415 with 19 kills.