ST. LOUIS – The third ranked University of Missouri-St. Louis volleyball team defeated Truman State 3-1 for its 24th straight win on Saturday afternoon at Pershing Arena in Kirksville, Mo. The Tritons improve to 24-0, 9-0 GLVC while the Bulldogs drop to 12-12, 2-7 GLVC.
UMSL fell behind 2-0 to begin the match before seizing control with an 8-1 run and wouldn't look back. Truman cut the lead to four but wouldn't get any closer as UMSL scored the next three points to extend its lead to seven. The Triton lead grew to 13 before settling on the final of 25-13 to take the opening set.
UMSL hit .306 in the frame with 15 kills and was led by fifth-year seniors
Lexie Rang and
Delaney Humm with four kills apiece while
Hailey Flowers added three kills.
The Tritons raced out to an eight-point lead to begin set two and eventually led by as many as 11 at 17-6 after a bad set by Taylar Schafer. The Bulldogs made a late run getting to within 20-15 after a kill from Allison Beaton but UMSL closed out the set scoring five of the final seven points to win it 25-17 and take the 2-0 lead.
Truman jumped out to a 6-1 lead to start three but the Tritons rallied scoring eight of the next nine points to take a 9-7 lead after a service ace from junior
Trysta Foster. The Bulldogs answered with an 11-4 run to regain its five-point lead after Emma Baierl blocked Humm. UMSL made a late run tying the set at 23 but was unable to retake the lead as Truman got back-to-back kills from Beaton and Jessie Julius to win the set 25-23.
The fourth set belonged to the Tritons as they hit .531 with 18 kills against one error in 32 swings and never trailed in the stanza. The Bulldogs closed to within 11-7 but wouldn't get any closer as UMSL put the match away with an 8-1 run on its way to the 25-11 victory.
The Tritons hit .336 for the match with 61 kills against 13 errors in 143 chances. Humm finished with a match-high 20 kills and was joined in double figures by Rang with 14 and Flowers added 11. Sophomore
Caitlin Bishop had 45 assists, while Foster and sophomore
Rylee Edson had five aces each. Rang also added two blocks and senior
Kylie Adams had a match-high 18 digs.
Truman was held to a .190 hitting percentage with 42 kills against 16 errors in 137 swings. Beaton and Jessica Proszenyak led the Bulldogs with 14 kills each. Baierl finished with 32 assists, Dani Kurth added three blocks and Lexi Arnel had 13 digs.
UMSL is back at home next weekend hosting Illinois Springfield at 6 p.m. at the Mark Twain Building.
