ST. LOUIS – The sixth ranked University of Missouri-St. Louis volleyball team edged McKendree 3-1 in its home opener on Friday evening at the Mark Twain Building. The Tritons improve to 8-1 while the Bearcats fall to 2-7.

UMSL got off to a slow start falling behind 5-1 to begin the match but rallied to tie the opening set at 10 after a block by Iyannah Jackson and Alayna Santel. McKendree retook the lead at 11-10 on a service error by Skylar Weaver before the Tritons scored six of the next seven points to take its largest lead of the set at 16-12 on an attack error from Emma McIlhargie.

After a timeout, the Bearcats ran off four straight to even the set at 16. UMSL countered with a 5-1 to regain its four-point cushion. McKendree wouldn't go without a fight as it trailed by three set points and staved off the first two but an attack error from Amber Williams gave the Tritons the 25-23 set win.

The Bearcats led for a majority of the second stanza and were up as many as four at 19-15 after an attack error by Maggie Johnson. UMSL responded after the error with a 6-1 run to take a 21-20 lead after a kill from Jackson. The lead was short lived as Avery Guisinger evened it up with a kill. The Tritons got a kill from Santel and back-to-back Bearcat errors to seize a 24-21 lead but just like the opener, McKendree wouldn't go quietly getting back-to-back points to pull within 24-23. Brooklyn Young knocked home a kill to give the Tritons the 25-23 set win and a 2-0 lead in the match.

The Bearcats led by as many as five in the third frame but UMSL rallied to even it at 10 on a Guisinger hitting error. The two sides exchanged points before McKendree made a push extending its lead to 19-15 with a kill from Hannah Kampwerth. This time it was the Tritons turn not to go quietly as they outscored the Bearcats 9-5 and overcame three set points to even the stanza at 24 after a kill from Jackson.

The two sides exchanged points and were still tied at 26 after another Jackson kill. UMSL appeared to take the lead when Destiny Gray's attack attempt sailed out of bounds but after a McKendree challenge, the call was overturned as Gray hit it off the block to give the Bearcats their sixth set point. Gray knocked home another kill to give McKendree the 28-26 victory and extended the match to a fourth set.

UMSL turned the tables on the Bearcats jumping out to an early lead before McKendree rallied to take a 17-15 advantage. The Tritons got back-to-back kills from Caitlin Bishop and Johnson to even things at 17 but the Bearcats countered with two straight points to regain its two-point lead. UMSL scored the next three points to retake the lead at 20-19 and had a chance to go up 21-19 but Jackson service attempt along the right sideline was ruled not to have touched Hannah Watson resulting in a point for McKendree that tied it at 20.

The Tritons rallied scoring the next four points to go in front 24-20 and had four match points to work with. The Bearcats fought off the first one before a Johnson kill gave UMSL the 25-21 set win.

The Tritons hit .158 for the match with 57 kills against 30 errors in 171 attempts and were led by Santel with 16 kills while Jackson and Johnson had 12 kills respectively and Copeland finished with 10. Bishop handed out 51 assists, Weaver had 15 digs and Santel added three blocks.

McKendre had 50 kills against 28 errors in 150 chances to finish with a .147 attack percentage. Gray had a match-high 19 kills. Williams had 44 assists, and Ashlyn Berczynski finished with 16 digs.

The Tritons are back at home on Saturday afternoon taking on Maryville at 4 p.m.