ST. LOUIS – Heading into the final weekend of the regular season the University of Missouri-St. Louis's second ranked volleyball team can clinch the Great Lakes Valley Conference regular season championship outright with one win in its final two matches. The Tritons take on Drury this Friday evening at 6 p.m. and then travel to Bolivar, Mo., on Saturday to take on Southwest Baptist at 1 p.m.
UMSL clinched a share of the regular season crown and the number one seed in the GLVC Tournament with a straight set win over then No. 20 Quincy last Saturday in the regular season home finale.
Delaney Humm, Lexie Rang and
Mya Elliott led the offensive attack combining for 35 of the team's 47 kills in the victory.
National Leaders – The Tritons rank in the top five in Division in three statistical categories. They're second in kills per set with 15.02, third in assists per set (13.92) and fifth in hitting percentage at .288.
Individually,
Caitlin Bishop is second in the country in assists per set with 12.30 and 10th in total assists (1,070). Rang is 10th in attacks per set (11.76), 13th in points per set (4.97) and 19th in kills per set (4.18) while Humm is 20th in kills per set (4.15). Elliott is 19th in hitting percentage at .391 and
Trysta Foster is 21st in aces per set with 0.55.
INCYMI – Humm and Bishop were named the Molten GLVC Offensive Player and Setter of the Week on Monday afternoon. It's Bishop's seventh Setter of the Week honor this season while Humm picks up her second Offensive Player of the Week accolade.
Race For The GLVC Tournament – Seven of the eight spots in the GLVC Tournament have been secured with seeding to be determined. UMSL has locked up the one seed. Lewis, Quincy, Rockhurst, Indianapolis, Missouri S&T and Maryville have all earned a berth to the tournament but are playing for seeding in the final weekend of the regular season. Upper Iowa sits in eighth place in the conference standings and has a two-match lead over McKendree, Southwest Baptist, Illinois Springfield and Drury for the final playoff spot.
About Drury – The Panthers enter Friday night's contest with a record of 6-20, 3-8 GLVC but have won three of their last five contests. Last weekend, they went 1-1 losing to No. 23 Rockhurst in four sets then defeated William Jewell in four sets on Saturday.
Drury is averaging 11.8 kills per set and hitting .143 as a team this season. It's led by Juliana Squire whose averaging 3.07 kills per set while Kayli Duncan is contributing 2.51 per set. Lauren Tyler is the team's primary setter and is averaging 8.12 assists.
Defensively, Sanoma Hunter and Duncan lead the way on the front live with 0.97 and 0.85 blocks per set while on the backline Lexi Basler is averaging 4.58 digs per set and Squire is at 4.23 per set.
About Southwest Baptist – The Bearcats enter Friday's contest against McKendree with an overall record of 14-13 but are just 3-8 in the GLVC. SBU dropped both of its matches last weekend losing to William Jewell in five sets and to No. 23 Rockhurst in four sets.
The Bearcats are averaging 12.1 kills per set and are hitting .178 as a team. Ella Rademaker and Loran Pritchett pace the SBU attack averaging 3.76 and 3.61 kills per set respectively. Bailey Lasater and Katie Pogue split time at the setter position with Lasater averaging 5.71 assists per set and Pogue is dishing out 4.20 assists per set.
On the defensive side, Rory Stanley leads the way averaging 1.08 blocks per set while Chandler Lawrence is averaging 0.79 blocks per set. On the backline, Pritchett leads the way with 248 digs while Janel Pido has 236 digs.
Series History – The Tritons lead the all-time series with Drury 15-8 and have won two of the past three meetings. However, the Panthers have won the last four meetings between the sides in Springfield. Last season, the Tritons defeated Drury in straight sets at the Mark Twain Building.
UMSL leads the all-time series against Southwest Baptist 26-5 and is 3-0 against the Bearcats since SBU joined the GLVC in 2019. Last season, the Tritons defeated the Bearcats 3-1 in Bolivar.
