WILLIAMSVILLE, Ill. – The second ranked and top seeded University of Missouri-St. Louis volleyball dropped the opening set of its semifinal match but bounced back to win the next three to defeat fifth seeded Missouri S&T and advance to the championship match of the GLVC Tournament on Saturday afternoon at Williamsville High School.

The Tritons improve to 30-0 while the Miners drop to 18-10.

UMSL led 14-9 in the opening frame but S&T battled back to take an 18-17 after a service ace from Alina Carrillo. The Tritons countered with three in a row of its own to take a 20-18 lead after a kill from Delaney Humm.

UMSL was unable to close out the set as the Miners scored seven of the final eight points of the frame to win it 25-21.

The Tritons led by six late in the second stanza but S&T chipped away getting to within 22-21 after a service error. UMSL got a kill from Hailey Flowers and then Mya Elliott and Lexie Rang teamed up to block Madelyn Mason to set up the Tritons with three set points. The Miners fought off the first two getting back-to-back kills from Ply before Rang ended the set with a kill to give UMSL the 25-23 set win and even the match at a set apiece.

The Tritons never trailed in the swing set racing out to a 6-1 lead and never let S&T get closer than three points the rest of the frame on their way to a 25-14 victory. UMSL hit .433 in the stanza with 16 kills against three errors in 30 chances and was led by the trio of Humm, Rang and Flowers who combined for 13 kills.

The Tritons led by as many as 12 in set four but a late charge from the Miners cut the deficit to eight. UMSL closed out the match getting a kill from Hannah Copeland and an ace from Rylee Edson to clinch the win.

The Tritons finished the match hitting .268 with 57 kills against 16 errors in 153 attempts and was led by Humm with 20 kills while Rang added 15 kills, 11 digs and six blocks. Flowers and Elliott chipped in with nine and seven kills respectively. Caitlin Bishop had 46 assists, Elliott also had six blocks and Kylie Adams added 17 digs.

UMSL out blocked one of the top blocking teams in the GLVC 11-6.

The Triton defense held S&T to a .132 hitting percentage with 46 kills against 26 errors in 151 chances. Ply led the Miners with 12 kills while Jordan Burton finished with 11 kills. Annie Arand had 22 assists while Mia Alessio finished with 21 digs.

UMSL will take on second seeded and 13th ranked Lewis in Sunday's championship match at noon at Williamsville High School. The Flyers defeated sixth seeded Maryville in straight sets in the second semifinal.