AURORA, ILL. – The University of Missouri-St. Louis volleyball team picked up two wins on Saturday to complete the Midwest Regional Crossover Tournament with a 3-0 record. The Tritons swept past Purdue Northwest in the morning before downing Ashland in four sets in the afternoon.
 
UMSL 3, Purdue Northwest 0 (25-9, 25-14, 25-15)
Records: UMSL (13-6), Purdue Northwest (5-17)
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
- UMSL hit a season-high .420, totaling 48 kills to Purdue Northwest's 21.
- Redshirt sophomore Maddy Russell recorded a season-best 16 kills and tallied her fourth double-double of the year with 11 digs.
- Sophomore Selena Nolte added 13 kills, while sophomore Kylie Rudsinski had seven kills in 12 swings with no errors.
- UMSL hit .520 in the opening frame and scored 12 unanswered at one point.
- Senior Madyson Abeyta dished out 23 assists.
- Senior Kara Roggemann had four blocks as the defense limited the Pride to .060 hitting.
- The Tritons recorded eight service aces, including two each from sophomore Morgan Childers, junior Alex Miner and senior Danielle Waedekin.
 
 
UMSL 3, Ashland 1 (25-21, 25-23, 20-25, 25-12)
Records: UMSL (14-6), Ashland (11-9)
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Rudsinski recorded a match-high 19 kills, while Russell tallied her second double-double of the day with 10 kills and 12 digs.
- The Tritons hit .253, including .400 in the fourth set, despite the Eagles owning a 14-9 blocking advantage.
- Abeyta dished out 23 assists and added five kills.
- Waedekin picked up three service aces and led the squad with 18 digs.
- Roggemann finished with eight kills and four blocks.
- After trailing by as many as five in the first set, the Tritons used a 6-0 run to take a 20-18 lead it would not relinquish. Abeyta and Nolte had two kills each during that stretch. Nolte added another two kills in a 5-2 spurt to end the frame.
- After trailing 9-3 in the second set, the Tritons used a stretch of five unanswered to get back into to, pulling within 10-9. Rudsinski later used back-to-back kills to ignite a straight of four unanswered for UMSL for a 23-21 advantage. The Eagles tied it, but the Tritons scored the final two of the set.
- Ashland led 17-6 in the third set, but saw UMSL pull within 22-19.
- Rudsinski had five kills in eight attempts in the fourth set, in which the Tritons had just two hitting errors.
 
TOURNAMENT NOTES
- UMSL went 3-0 at the Crossover Tournament for the first time.
- Russell averaged 3.82 kills and 2.73 digs per set, while Nolte averaged 3.55 kills, hitting .405.
- The Tritons hit a combined .297 in the three wins, while holding its opponents to .141 hitting.
- UMSL racked up 24 service aces, including six from Waedekin.
 
UP NEXT
UMSL returns home on Friday to host Missouri S&T at 7 p.m.