ST. LOUIS – The University of Missouri-St. Louis volleyball team overcame a slow start as it rallied to defeat Maryville 3-1 on Saturday afternoon at the Mark Twain Building. The Tritons move to 17-5, 8-1 GLVC while the Saints drop to 16-10, 3-7 GLVC.
Maryville stormed out of the gates opening match with four straight points and led by as many as six at 13-7 after an ace from Rachel Schipper. UMSL countered with a 7-1 run of its own to even the stanza at 14 on a kill from
Hannah Copeland. The two sides exchanged the next 12 points and were still tied at 20 after a kill from
Charlotte Richards.
The Saints then scored three of the next four points to grab a 23-21 lead. The Tritons fought off one set point but wouldn't fight off a second as Ella Brinkman knocked down a kill to give Maryville the 25-23 set win.
The second set was all UMSL as it raced out to a 6-1 lead and never looked back. Its lead grew to as many as 15 at 24-9 after an error by Grace Graham. After a kill from Graham, Richards knocked down her seventh kill of the match to give the Tritons a 25-10 win and tie the match at a set apiece. UMSL hit .387 in the frame while holding the Saints to a zero hitting percentage.
The swing set was the tightest of the match with 13 ties and four lead changes. UMSL led by two early but found itself trailing 17-15 midway through the frame. After a timeout, the Tritons ran off five of the next six points to grab a 20-18 lead on a kill by
Lexie Rang. Maryville got to within 21-20 after a kill by Hanna Dressing but UMSL closed it out scoring the final four points of the set to win 25-20.
The two sides went back-and-forth early in the fourth frame before the Tritons pulled away. UMSL led 9-7 when they went on an 11-5 run to extend its lead to 20-12 on a kill from Richards. The Saints wouldn't get closer than seven points the rest of the match as the Tritons scored five of the last eight points to win 25-15.
UMSL hit .311 in the contest with 61 kills against 14 errors in 151 chances. Rang and Richards led the way with 20 and 18 kills respectively as both posted double-doubles in the match.
Mya Elliott added seven kills while Copeland and
Hailey Flowers had seven kills each.
Caitlin Bishop had a season-high 57 assists and
Kylie Adams added 27 digs. Elliott and Flowers finished with five blocks apiece.
Maryville finished the contest hitting .146 but was held to a .078 attack percentage in the final three sets. Caroline Glastetter led the Saints with 11 kills in the contest while Dressing and Brinkman had 10 kills apiece. Abbie Schnell had 24 assists and Brinkman finished with 23 digs.
The Tritons are back in action next Friday as it travels across the river to Lebanon, Ill., to take on McKendree at 6 p.m.
