ST. LOUIS – The fourth ranked University of Missouri-St. Louis volleyball team swept McKendree for its 15th straight win on Saturday afternoon at the Mark Twain Building. The Tritons improve to 15-0, 3-0 GLVC while the Bearcats fall to 7-7, 0-3 GLVC.
UMSL got off to a slow start falling behind 7-2 as McKendree came out on fire hitting .500 in the early going. The Tritons battled back with an 8-2 run to take its first lead of the contest at 10-9 on a kill by
Hannah Copeland. UMSL extended its lead to 16-11 after Copeland and
Hailey Flowers teamed up to block Emma McIlhargie at the net.
The Bearcats clawed their way back to within two points at 20-18 after a kill from Colleen Preusser but wouldn't get any closer as the Tritons scored the final five points of the set to win it 25-18 on a kill from
Delaney Humm.
Flowers, Humm and
Mya Elliott had four kills apiece in the set while Copeland added three more.
UMSL never trailed in the middle stanza racing out to a 5-1 lead and led by as many as seven points in the frame. McKendree fought back cutting the Triton lead to three points late in the set but again wouldn't get any closer as Elliott and Humm recorded back-to-back kills to end the stanza.
Lexie Rang led the way with four kills in the set while Flowers, Elliott and Humm had three kills each.
UMSL jumped out to a four-point lead early in the final frame and led by as many as 11 points at 17-6 after an error by Destiny Gray. The Bearcats made a late run getting to within seven at 23-16 after a kill from Preusser but a kill by Humm and a bad set by Amber Williams ended the match.
UMSL hit .293 in the contest with 45 kills against nine errors in 123 chances and was led by Humm with 11 kills while Flowers finished with 10 kills and five blocks.
Caitlin Bishop handed out 36 assists, Elliott finished with six blocks and
Kylie Adams had a match-high 21 digs.
The Triton defense held McKendree to a .121 hitting percentage with 36 kills against 21 errors in 124 attempts. Preusser led the Bearcats with 10 kills, Williams had 32 assists and Keely Davis finished with 18 digs.
UMSL is back in action next Friday as it travels to Indianapolis to take on UIndy at 5 p.m. at the Ruth Lilly Fitness Center.
