WILLIAMSVILLE, Ill. – The No. 22 University of Missouri-St. Louis volleyball team fell in a hard fought five-set match to Lewis in a Great Lakes Valley Conference quarterfinal contest on Friday evening at the Williamsville Fieldhouse in Williamsville, Ill. The Tritons drop to 19-8 while the Flyers move to 20-10.

UMSL led 13-12 midway through the opening frame but an 8-1 run by Lewis gave it a 20-14 lead after Keegan Carey and Mallory Januski teamed up to block Hannah Copeland. The Tritons pulled to within 23-19 after an ace serve from Trysta Foster but wouldn't get any closer as Bella Ray recorded back-to-back kills to give the Flyers the 25-19 set win.

UMSL jumped out to a 10-4 lead in the second stanza but Lewis rallied to tie it at 11 after a block by Januski and Lauren Buxton. The Tritons countered scoring six of the next seven points and wouldn't let the Flyers get closer than two the rest of the frame on its way to a 25-19 victory to even the match at a set apiece.

Lewis' Ray had the hot hand to start the swing set recording three kills and two blocks to give the Flyers an early 5-1 lead but Maggie Johnson caught fire in the frame recording five straight kills to allow UMSL to even things at six. The Flyers regained the lead and pushed it to three but a 13-2 run from the Tritons gave them a 22-14 lead after a kill from Iyannah Jackson. UMSL led by as many as nine in the set on its way to a 25-16 victory.

The Tritons had 20 kills in the frame and hit .410 led by Johnson with 11 of those kills.

The fourth set belonged to Lewis as it jumped out to an 8-1 lead. The Tritons pulled to within 8-5 but got no closer as the Flyers pulled away to win the stanza 25-14. They hit .302 in the set with 15 kills and were led by Buxton with seven of those kills.

Lewis led 4-1 early in the winner take-all set but UMSL rallied with four straight to take a 5-4 lead. The Flyers scored three of the next four points to retake the lead but the Tritons answered with a 4-1 run to grab a 10-8 lead after a kill from Addison Voorhees.

The race to 15 was on and Lewis responded answering UMSL's run with one of its own to take a 12-11 lead after an ace from Natalie Stefanski. The Tritons got back-to-back kills from Copeland to regain the lead but were unable to close it out.

The Flyers got a kill from Hannah Alvey and then Alvey and Ray blocked Alayna Santel to set up match point. UMSL fought off the first set point as Copeland blocked Ray but a kill from Buxton gave Lewis another opportunity.

The Tritons fought off another match point as Johnson record her 18th kill of the match to square things at 15. Lewis retook the lead on a kill from Ray and then won the match as Stefanski and Gracie Schultz blocked Santel to end the contest.

UMSL hit .184 in the contest with 61 kills against 24 errors in 201 attempts. Johnson's 18 kills were a new career-high and led three Tritons in double figures. She was joined by Santel with 15 while Copeland added 10. Caitlin Bishop handed out 54 assists, Skylar Weaver had a career-high 35 digs and Copeland added four blocks.

Lewis hit .214 for the match with 63 kills against 19 errors in 206 swings. Ray tied Johnson for the match-high with 18 kills while Buxton added 16 and Stefanski and Alvey finished with 10 kills apiece. Lily King had 24 assists, Ally Hickey finished with 26 digs and Ray added four blocks.

UMSL will find out on Monday (Nov. 25) night if it will receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament for a fifth straight year during the NCAA Selection Show at 6:30 p.m. (CST) on NCAA.com.