It wasn't easy but the Drury Panthers left the O'Reilly Family Event Center Friday with the five-set over the UMSL Tritons.

The Tritons cruised in the first two sets, 25-15, 25-19.

But in the third set, the Tritons looked off balance, as the Panthers exposed holes in the defense as Drury took the set, 25-23.

The Panthers outscored the Tritons 7-1 to close out the set.

Drury kept the momentum for the duration, as the Panthers won the fourth set, 25-17, and the fifth, 15-11.

The Panthers improve to 14-8 overall and 5-5 in GLVC play, while UMSL drops to 15-6 overall and 8-2 in the conference.

The Panthers led in the third set until the midway point when UMSL took leads of 17-16, 18-17, 19-18, 20-18, 21-18, 22-18, 22-19, 22-20, and 23-20.

The Panthers proceeded to win five consecutive points to take the set.

In the fourth, the Panthers outscored the Tritons 6-1 to set the tone once again, and their biggest leads were four and five points.

UMSL led at six junctures in the final set but the Panthers just wouldn't go away.

This match marked the first game for the Tritons in six days, so that very well may have factored into the equation.

The Tritons will lick their wounds tonight before heading to SBU Saturday for a 3 p.m. matinee.

UMSL is back home Friday, Oct. 29 to battle Lindenwood.

The Tritons have a busy home week to kickstart November, with three home matches the first week of the month.

UMSL has spent the past three weekends on the road.