WILLIAMSVILLE, Ill. – The second ranked University of Missouri-St. Louis volleyball team fell in straight sets to No. 13 Lewis in the championship match of the GLVC Tournament on Sunday afternoon at the Williamsville High School Fieldhouse in Williamsville, Ill.
The Tritons fall to 30-1 while the Flyers improve to 26-6.
The opening set was one of runs as UMSL opened the match on a 9-2 run but Lewis countered with a 13-4 run to take a 15-13 lead after Juliana Van Loo and Emma O'Neill teamed up to block
Delaney Humm.
The Tritons closed to within 15-14 after a service error but wouldn't get any closer as the Flyers scored five of the next six points to extend its lead to 19-14. UMSL got back to within 19-17 but Lewis scored six of the final nine points to take the opener 25-20.
Each team had had 13 kills from the frame but the difference was the Tritons committed six attack errors to only one for the Flyers.
Lewis' service game was strong at the start of the second set recording three aces as it jumped out to an early four-point lead. UMSL rallied to tie the stanza at 13 after a kill from
Hailey Flowers but the Tritons were unable to take the lead as the Flyers countered with a 5-1 run to build an 18-14 lead after a kill from Hannah Alvey. UMSL cut the deficit to 19-17 after a kill from
Mya Elliott but wouldn't get closer as Lewis closed the set scoring six of the final nine points to take the frame 25-20.
The Tritons had 20 kills to the Flyers 13 but UMSL committed six errors compared to none for Lewis.
UMSL led by two early in the third set but four straight Triton errors allowed the Flyers to take a 10-7 lead. UMSL got back-to-back points to climb within 10-9 but was never able to regain the lead as Lewis stretched its lead to as many as six and closed it out on a kill from Megan Schlechte to end the match 25-19.
Lexie Rang and
Caitlin Bishop were named to the GLVC's All-Tournament team.
The Tritons were held to a .218 hitting percentage with 48 kills against 22 errors in 119 attempts. Humm led UMSL with a match-high 13 kills while
Hannah Copeland added 10 and Elliott and Rang had nine kills apiece. Bishop had 35 assists and Rang finished with 11 digs.
The Flyers hit .442 for the contest recording 40 kills against only two errors in 86 swings. Van Loo, Schlechte and Bella Ray had eight kills each. Lauren Stenman finished with 34 assists and Ally Hickey had a match-high 17 digs.
The Tritons will find out on Monday their seed and if they'll host the Midwest Regional during the selection show at 6:30 p.m. on NCAA.com.
