EAST PEORIA, Ill. – The University of Missouri-St. Louis volleyball team was eliminated from the GLVC Tournament in a 3-0 loss against Rockhurst on Friday evening at the Eastside Centre in East Peoria, Ill. The Tritons drop to 21-6 while the Hawks improve to 20-6.
The opening set was tied at eight when Rockhurst went on an 8-3 run to build a 16-11 advantage. UMSL fought back to within 16-13 after a service error by Sarah Montague and a kill from
Charlotte Richards. However, that would be the closest the Tritons got as the Hawks scored the final nine points of the frame to take it 25-13.
Rockhurst hit .483 in the stanza with 14 kills against zero errors in 29 swings. Kenzie Hines had seven of those kills in nine chances and added three aces.
UMSL trailed by four early in the middle set but rallied to take a 16-14 lead halfway through the stanza after
Mya Elliott and
Caitlin Bishop stuffed Sarah Pyle at the net. The lead was short lived though as the Hawks scored six of the next eight points to take a 20-18 lead after a kill from Hines. The Tritons got as close as 21-20 after a kill from
Hailey Flowers but were unable to tie it up as Rockhurst scored four of the final five points to win 25-21 and take a commanding 2-0 lead.
UMSL jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the third frame but the Hawks answered with five straight points to grab a 6-3 lead. The Tritons fought back to get within one multiple times but couldn't get over the hump as Rockhurst pulled away to take a four-point lead late in the stanza. UMSL wouldn't get closer than two points the rest of the match as the Hawks held on for the 25-22 win to complete the sweep.
Rockhurst hit .341 in the contest with 53 kills against seven errors in 135 chances and were led by Hines with a match-high 21 kills. Sydney Raszler added 12 kills and Pyle finished with seven kills. Montague handed out 40 assists, Maureen Reilly had 19 digs, Gracie LaForge and Tera Reberry had three blocks each and Hines added three aces.
The Tritons hit .250 for the match with 42 kills against 12 errors in 120 swings. Richards had 17 kills to lead UMSL while
Lexie Rang had nine kills and Flowers finished with six kills. Bishop had 37 assists,
Kylie Adams had a match-high 20 digs,
Hannah Copeland added four blocks and Rang served an ace.
The Tritons will find out their NCAA fate this Sunday evening at 9:30 p.m. (CST) during the NCAA Selection Show on NCAA.com.
