ST. LOUIS – The third ranked University of Missouri-St. Louis women's volleyball heads back out on the road this weekend as it travels to Upper Iowa and Truman State for a pair of matches. The Tritons will take on the Peacocks at 6 p.m. on Friday in Fayette, Iowa and conclude their trip against the Bulldogs on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. in Kirksville, Mo.
Last Time Out – UMSL extended its winning streak to 22 with a pair of victories last weekend. It defeated Missouri S&T 3-1 last Friday and then swept Maryville on Saturday afternoon. Fifth-year senior
Lexie Rang led the offensive attack averaging over five kills per set, sophomore
Caitlin Bishop directed an offense that hit. 270 over seven sets and averaged 15.14 kills per set while senior
Kylie Adams averaged five digs per set.
INCYMI – Bishop won her fifth Great Lakes Valley Conference Setter of the Week award of the season on Monday. She tallied 92 assists for an average of 13.14 per set while adding 17 digs, one block and one kill. Her weekend was highlighted by a 48 assist, 14 dig performance against the Miners.
AVCA Poll – The Tritons moved up a spot to third in this week's AVCA/Taraflex Division II Top 25 poll. It's the highest the team has ever been ranked besting the previous high of four. They are one of four GLVC teams ranked this week. Lewis checked in at number 13, while Quincy is 21st and Rockhurst is 24th. The GLVC has the second most teams of any conference ranked in this week's poll trailing only the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference who has five teams in this week's rankings.
Road Success – Entering this weekend, UMSL has won 12 of its last 13 road matches. It went 7-1 last season with its only loss coming at Quincy last September and are 5-0 this season.
About Upper Iowa – The Peacocks enter Friday's contest with a record of 9-12, 4-3 in the GLVC and are seventh in the league standings. Last weekend they traveled to Kansas City and split with William Jewell and Rockhurst. They defeated the Cardinals 3-1 last Friday and fell to the Hawks in four sets on Saturday.
UIU is led by Zoe Semelroth with 261 kills, 58 blocks and 50 aces, while Nicole Pozorksi has distributed 782 assists for an average of 9.65 per set. Kaci Beesecker leads the team with 306 digs. The Peacocks are hitting .197 as a team and averaging 12.6 kills per set.
About Truman State – The Bulldogs enter Thursday night's match against McKendree with a record of 12-10 overall but are 2-5 in the GLVC and have dropped two in a row. Last weekend, they traveled to Kansas City where they lost to Rockhurst in four sets and William Jewell in five.
Hanna Berry leads the team with 206 kills while Allison Beaton isn't far behind with 199 kills. Emma Baierl and Tori Creason have split time at the setter position. Baierli has handed out 460 assists while Creason has distributed 307 assists.
On the defensive side, Dani Kurth and Berry lead the team with 79 and 72 blocks respectively and Lexi Arnel has a team best 323 digs.
