ST. LOUIS – The fifth ranked University of Missouri-St. Louis volleyball team extended its winning streak to 10 with two wins on Friday at the McKendree Invitational in Lebanon, Ill. The Tritons defeated Harding 3-1 in its first match of the day and then swept Maryville in its second contest.
No. 5 Missouri-St. Louis 3 Harding 1
The Tritons (10-0) led wire-to-wire in the opening set and were up by as many as seven but had to withstand a late run from the Lady Bison (6-4) to win the frame 25-22 to take the early lead.
Hannah Copeland and
Hailey Flowers had four kills apiece to lead UMSL in the stanza.
The second set went back-and-forth early before Harding took control building a six-point advantage. The Tritons made a late run getting to within 24-23 after a kill from Flowers but couldn't complete the comeback as Chloe Ingersoll ended the set with a kill to even the match at a set apiece. The Lady Bison hit .302 in the frame while UMSL hit .217.
Harding led by three early in the third stanza but the Tritons rallied to take a 15-14 lead on a kill from Flowers. UMSL's lead grew to 20-16 after a service from
Lexie Rang but the Lady Bison battled back to within 21-20 after a kill from Skylar McKinnon. The Tritons closed out the set scoring the final four points of the stanza behind a pair of kills from
Delaney Humm.
UMSL built a five-point advantage midway through the final stanza but Harding wouldn't go quietly as they fought off a pair of match points to cut the Triton lead to 24-23 after an error by Rang. After an UMSL timeout,
Mya Elliott terminated a ball to end the match and give the Tritons a 25-23 victory.
UMSL hit .288 in the match with 63 kills against 14 errors in 170 swings. Humm led the Tritons with an UMSL career-high 21 kills and was one kill shy of her collegiate career-high. Rang added 15 kills while Flowers and Copeland finished with nine and eight kills respectively.
Caitlin Bishop handed out 48 assists and
Kylie Adams had a match-high 25 digs.
Harding hit .276 for the contest with 63 kills against 18 errors in 163 chances. Ingersoll finished with a match-high 24 kills. Olivia Wiedower had 55 set assists and Emma Winiger had 18 digs.
No. 5 Missouri-St. Louis 3 Maryville 0
The Tritons got off to a good start building an early four-point lead in its match against Maryville (6-3) but the Saints ran off eight of the next 10 points to take their only lead of the set at 8-6 after a kill from Ella Brinkman.
UMSL went on a 13-3 run to seize a 19-11 lead and wouldn't relinquish it. Humm had three kills in the run while Rang added two more and
Skylar Weaver had two aces. Maryville wouldn't get closer than seven points the rest of the frame as the Tritons took the opener 25-14.
The Saints led by three late in the middle frame but UMSL responded scoring nine of the final 11 points to take the stanza 25-21 and a commanding 2-0 lead.
Maryville built a four-point lead early in the final stanza but the Tritons fought back to take a 15-12 lead after a kill from Rang midway through the frame. The Saints cut the deficit to 18-17 but UMSL never gave up the lead closing the match on a 7-2 run to take the set 25-19 and complete the sweep.
The Tritons hit .240 in the contest with 42 kills against 13 errors in 121 chances and were led by Humm with 16 kills while Rang had a double-double with 11 kills and 20 digs. Bishop distributed 35 assists and Elliott had three total blocks.
Maryville was held to a .127 attack percentage with 33 kills against 18 errors in 118 attempts. Brinkman led the way for the Saints with 11 kills while Abbie Schnell had 16 assists and Taylor Hasbrook finished with a match-high 22 digs.
UMSL plays its final two matches of the McKendree Invitational on Saturday taking on Illinois Springfield at 11:30 a.m. and the host Bearcats at 4:30 p.m.
