ST. LOUIS – The University of Missouri-St. Louis volleyball split its two matches on the first day of the Midwest Region Crossover at the Hammond Sportsplex in Hammond, Ind. The Tritons dropped their first match of the day to Northwood 3-2 but rebounded to sweep Northern Michigan in its afternoon contest.
UMSL 3 Northern Michigan 0
UMSL trailed by four midway through the opening set against the Wildcats (15-5) before going on a 10-3 run to grab a 19-16 lead after a kill from
Charlotte Richards. NMU cut the margin to 21-20 after a kill from Jacqueline Smith but that would be the closest it got the rest of the stanza as the Tritons (15-5) scored the final four points to win the opener 25-20.
UMSL used a 7-0 run early in the middle frame to turn a one-point deficit into a six-point advantage and wouldn't look back as it led by as many as nine in the stanza. The Wildcats made a late run to get within five before the Tritons closed it out to win 25-17. UMSL hit .324 in the set with 15 kills against four errors in 24 chances.
The final stanza was back-and-forth early before UMSL began to pull away midway through the frame building an 18-10 lead. Northern Michigan wouldn't go quietly getting to within five but weren't able to complete the comeback as the Tritons closed the match scoring five of the final eight points to win 25-17 and complete the sweep.
UMSL hit .379 for the match with 45 kills against nine errors in 95 chances. Richards led the way with 18 kills while
Hailey Flowers added 10 and
Lexie Rang finished with eight.
Caitlin Bishop dished out 38 assists,
Rylee Edson had five aces and Rang led the way with 12 digs. Flowers also added four blocks.
The Tritons held the Wildcats to a .198 hitting percentage with 35 kills against 16 errors in 96 swings. Smith led NMU with 14 kills while Lauren Van Remortel had 28 assists and Alli Yacko added 13 digs.
Northwood 3 UMSL 2
In its first match of the day UMSL allowed Northwood (11-9) to hit .379 with 14 kills against three errors in 29 chances in the opening stanza. The Tritons trailed 13-12 when the Timberwolves went on a 9-3 run to build a 22-15 lead. UMSL closed the margin to 23-19 by scoring four of the next five points but were unable to complete the comeback as Northwood scored the final two points to take the opener 25-19.
The second set was all Tritons as they hit .360 with 12 kills against three errors in 36 swings while holding the Timberwolves to a negative .167 hitting percentage on its way to a 25-12 win to even the match at a set apiece.
UMSL scored four of the first five points in the swing set and led by as many as five at 9-4 after an ace from
Trysta Foster. Northwood then went on a 9-2 to grab a 13-11 lead. The Tritons rallied with a 5-2 run of its own to take a 16-15 lead after Rang and
Karli Dean blocked Sydney Hasenfratz. That would be UMSL's final lead of the frame as the Timberwolves ran off eight straight to build their largest lead of the set at 23-16. The Tritons wouldn't get closer than six the rest of the set as Northwood would win 25-18.
UMSL led for virtually the entire fourth set and led by as many as nine at 22-13 after a kill from Rang. The Timberwolves tried to make a late push but could only cut the deficit to seven before the Tritons served it out getting back-to-back kills from
Mya Elliott and Rang to win 25-16 and force a winner take-all fifth set.
UMSL got off to a slow start in the final stanza as they trailed by four early before getting to within three at 10-7 after a kill from Flowers. The Tritons were unable to get any closer as Northwood scored five of the final seven points of the match to win 15-9.
UMSL hit .212 for the match with 53 kills against 19 errors in 160 chances. Rang led the Tritons with 17 kills and was joined in double figures by Richards with 16 and Flowers added 11. Bishop finished with 36 assists and
Kylie Adams had a match-high 24 digs.
The Timberwolves hit .199 for the contest with 56 kills against 24 errors in 161 swings. Hasenfratz and Venera Kadriu led Northwood with 15 kills apiece while Kiana Martens and Maya Ferland had 12 and 10 kills respectively. Renee Brines had a match-high 45 assists, Hasenfratz had nine blocks and Lauren Bell and Megan Acs had 19 digs each.
UMSL will conclude play at the Midwest Region Crossover on Saturday afternoon against Davenport at 2 p.m. at the Hammond Sportsplex
