ST. LOUIS – The University of Missouri-St. Louis volleyball team swept Southwest Baptist on Friday to clinch a berth in next weekend's GLVC Volleyball Tournament. The Tritons improve to 18-7, 7-5 GLVC while the Bearcats drop to 14-15, 4-8 GLVC.
UMSL started slow trailing 4-3 before going on a 10-4 run to build a 14-7 lead after a kill from
Addison Voorhees. SBU battled back pulling to within 17-13 after a kill from Ella Rademaker but wouldn't get any closer as the Tritons closed the set strong scoring eight of the final 12 points to take the opening frame 25-17.
UMSL hit .239 in the stanza recording 14 kills against three errors in 46 attempts.
The Tritons fell behind 2-0 to begin the middle frame but seized a control with a 10-2 run to grab a six-point lead. The Bearcats responded pulling to within 15-14 after Katie Pogue and Rory Stanley blocked
Maggie Johnson. UMSL pushed its lead back out to four but SBU kept battling tying it at 24 on a kill from Rademaker.
The Tritons won the set as
Hannah Copeland recorded a kill and then
Skylar Weaver served an ace to give UMSL the 26-24 win.
The Tritons led by five in the final stanza but the Bearcats rallied scoring six in a row to take a 12-11 lead. The two sides traded points until UMSL seized control with three points to break a 19-all tie. SBU pulled back to within 22-20 after a kill from Rademaker but the Tritons scored three of the final four points to win the set 25-21 and complete the sweep.
UMSL hit .226 for the match with 44 kills against 13 errors in 137 attempts.
Alayna Santel led the way with 13 kills while Voorhees added 10 kills.
Caitlin Bishop handed out 38 assists, Weaver finished with 17 digs and Copeland added six blocks.
The Bearcats had a .155 hitting percentage in the contest with 41 kills against 19 errors in 142 swings. Rademaker finished with a match-high 18 kills. Pogue finished with 33 assists, Kynzie Lilly added 14 digs and Stanley and Natalie Percival had two blocks each.
The Tritons wrap up the regular season on Saturday hosting Drury at 3 p.m. at the Mark Twain Building. The team will honor its senior before the start of the match.
