EAST PEORIA, Ill. – It wasn't easy but the University of Missouri-St. Louis volleyball team reverse swept Illinois Springfield on Thursday evening at the Eastside Centre to advance to the semifinal round of the GLVC Tournament. The Tritons improve to 21-5 while the Prairie Stars see their season end with a record of 12-13.

UMSL, seeded second, trailed for most of the opening set but came back to take a 19-17 lead after Lexie Rang and Mya Elliott teamed up to block Macarena Flores. UIS, seeded seventh, bounced back as it outscored the Tritons 8-2 over the remainder of the frame to win 25-21.

UMSL held a one-point lead early in the second set but was unable to overcome a 15-3 run by the Prairie Stars which allowed them to take a 20-9 lead after a kill from Ericka Snopko. The Tritons rallied to within four late in the stanza but were unable to get any closer as UIS held on for the 25-20 victory.

UMSL scored seven straight points to break an early tie in the middle set and wouldn't look back on its way to a 25-12 victory. The Tritons hit .200 in the stanza and held UIS to a negative .053 attack percentage.

UMSL led by four midway through the fourth set but the Prairie Stars countered with six straight points to take an 18-16 lead after Snopko and Zanea Spencer blocked Charlotte Richards. It was the Tritons defense that sparked their next run as Kylie Adams came up with a big dig to extend a rally which led to a point as Richards knocked one home. That play started a 6-2 run which allowed UMSL to take a 22-20 lead. The lead grew to 24-22 as the Tritons had two chances to close out the frame but UIS got a kill from Angela Denney and then Elliott tried to hit one cross court into the back-left corner but her shot was long.

Rang gave UMSL the lead right back with a kill and then Richards scored to give the Tritons a 26-24 win and extended the match to a fifth set.

UMSL gave up two of the first three points in the final stanza before taking control with a 6-1 run to build a 7-3 lead after a kill from Richards. The Prairie Stars refused to go quietly cutting the Triton lead to 11-9 after back-to-back kills from Denney. UMSL scored three of the next five points to extend its lead to 14-11 after another kill from Richards. UIS fought off one match point but couldn't fight off another as Caitlin Bishop dumped an attack over the net to complete the comeback.

The Tritons finished the contest hitting .229 with 63 kills against 20 errors in 188 chances. Richards led four UMSL players in double figures with 17 kills. Rang added 13 kills while Elliott and Hailey Flowers had 12 kills apiece. Bishop handed out 53 assists, Elliott had seven blocks and Adams finished with a career-high 30 digs.

The Prairie Stars had 68 kills in the match but committed 30 errors to finish with an attack percentage of .182. Denney had a match-high 29 kills while Eirini Glynou added 16 kills and Spencer finished with 11 kills. Regan Trueblood had 48 assists, Snopko added 10 blocks and Denney finished with 20 digs.

The Tritons will take on third seeded Rockhurst on Friday at 5:30 p.m. at the Eastside Centre in East Peoria, Ill.