DENVER – The fourth ranked University of Missouri-St. Louis volleyball team won the Bronze Bracket at the Colorado Premiere Challenge defeating Seattle Pacific 3-1 and Wheeling 3-1 on Saturday at Regis' Berce Center on Saturday in Denver, Colo. The Tritons improve to 7-1 on the season.
UMSL 3 Seattle Pacific 1
In its semifinal match, UMSL and Seattle Pacific split the first two sets by identical 25-18 scores. The swing set was the tightest of the match with 11 ties and seven lead changes. The Falcons (0-8) led 23-21 but the Tritons closed the set scoring the final four points to win 25-23.
Alayna Santel recorded two of the final three kills in the stanza while
Brooklyn Young added the third to give UMSL the 2-1 lead in the match.
The Tritons led by as many as five early in the fourth set and were up 23-19 late in the stanza but a 5-1 run from the Falcons evened the frame at 24. UMSL had two more chances to close out the match but each time SPU answered to extend the match.
Maggie Johnson gave the Tritons their fifth match point with a kill and then error by Eva LaRochelle ended the contest giving UMSL the 28-26 victory.
The Tritons hit .221 in the match with 52 kills against 23 errors in 131 chances. Santel finished with a match and career-high 21 kills. She was joined in double figures by Young with 11 kills.
Caitlin Bishop finished with 40 assists, Young and
Hannah Copeland had four blocks each and
Skylar Weaver added 14 digs.
The Falcons had 56 kills against 28 errors in 150 attempts to finish hitting .187. Allison Wilks led SPU with 15 kills while Hannah Hair added 10 kills. Emily Tulino handed out 39 assists, LaRochelle, Hair and Erin Smith had five blocks each and Christina Lopez had 16 digs.
UMSL 3 Wheeling 1
In the championship match, UMSL led from to start to finish taking the opening set by a score of 25-21. Santel continued her impressive play with seven kills in the stanza. The Cardinals (2-6) rallied to win the second set 25-17 as they hit .333 in the frame and were led by Katie Wilking and Maddy Winters who combined for 11 of their 17 kills.
The Tritons jumped out to a 9-2 lead in third set and wouldn't let Wheeling get closer than three points on its way to a 25-17 win. UMSL hit .279 in the frame with Copeland leading the charge with eight kills in the stanza. The Triton defense held the Cardinals to .026 hitting percentage in the frame.
UMSL trailed by four early but used an 13-4 run to take a 16-11 lead after an attack error by Lindsey James. It wouldn't let Wheeling get closer than three the rest of the way as it sealed the win 25-21 on a kill by Young.
The Tritons hit .227 with 64 kills against 25 errors in 172 attempts and were led by Copeland with a career-high 16 kills. She was joined in double figures by Santel with 14 while
Iyannah Jackson added 13 and Johnson and Young finished with 10 kills each. Bishop had a season-high 59 assists, Copeland had four blocks and Weaver finished with 17 digs.
The Cardinals recorded 51 kills against 22 errors in 155 swings and were led by Wilking with 16 kills while Winters added 14 kills. Karly Niesen distributed 43 assists, Winters had six blocks and Riley Kindall finished with 16 digs.
UMSL returns to the court on Friday (Sept. 20) hosting McKendree in its home opener at 6 p.m. at the Mark Twain Building.
