SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – The University of Missouri-St. Louis volleyball team opened conference play with a sweep at Illinois Springfield on Friday evening at the TRAC in Springfield, Ill. The Tritons improve to 8-3, 1-0 GLVC while the Prairie Stars fall to 4-6, 0-1 GLVC.

UMSL dominated the match hitting .364 for the contest with 43 kills against only seven errors in 99 chances while holding UIS to a .190 attack percentage (35/15/105).

The Tritons pulled away midway through the opening set thanks to 9-3 run to break a 10-all tie and give them a 19-13 lead. The Prairie Stars fought back to within 20-16 but that would be the closest they got as UMSL closed the set with the final five points to win 25-16.

The Tritons led by as many as seven early in the middle set but UIS rallied again closing to within 19-17 after a kill from Madeline McGuire. UMSL wouldn't allow them to get any closer closing the set by scoring six of the final 10 points to win 25-21.

The Tritons built a six-point cushion midway through the final stanza and led by as many as nine cruising to a 25-16 victory.

Charlotte Richards and Hannah Copeland had 11 and 10 kills respectively in the match. Caitlin Bishop handed out 36 assists and Lexie Rang was tied for the match-high with 14 digs.

Angela Denney finished with a match-high 14 kills. Regan Trueblood had 19 digs and Amanda McConnell finished with 15 digs.

UMSL returns to the court on Saturday (Sept. 17) as it travels to Quincy, Ill., to take on the Hawks at 3 p.m. at Pepsi Arena.