BOCA RATON, Fla. – The University of Missouri-St. Louis volleyball team split its two matches at the Hyatt Place Bash At The Beach on Friday afternoon at the de Hoernle Sports Center on the campus of Lynn University. The Tritons (7-3) fell to top ranked Lynn 3-0 before defeating Flagler 3-1 to wrap up the day.
Match 1 – No. 1 Lynn 3 UMSL 0
UMSL fell behind by five to begin the match but rallied to take a 22-21 advantage late in the opening set after a bad set by Lilia Neill. The Fighting Knights (8-0) scored the final four points to take the opening set 25-22.
Maggie Johnson had five kills in the stanza while
Iyannah Jackson,
Alayna Santel and
Hannah Copeland had three kills apiece.
The Tritons trailed by as many as four in the middle frame before rallying to take a 21-20 lead. The set was tied at 22 when UMSL took advantage of a couple of Lynn mistakes to reach set point first at 24-22.
The Fighting Knights fought off two set points to even things at 24. A service error gave the Tritons a 25-24 lead but couldn't close it out as Lynn scored the final three points of the stanza to win 27-25.
UMSL jumped out to an early three-point lead in the final frame but the Fighting Knights came back to claim a 17-14 lead after an attack error by
Bridget Cassady. That lead grew to 21-17 before the Tritons ran off three straight points to pull within one at 21-20 and forced Lynn to take a timeout.
UMSL was unable to draw any closer as the Fighting Knights scored the final four points to complete the sweep.
The Tritons were held to a .120 hitting percentage with 37 kills against 21 errors in 133 chances. Copeland and Johnson led the way with nine kills each while Santel, Jackson and Cassday had six kills apiece.
Caitlin Bishop had 28 assists and two aces, Copeland and Santel had three blocks each and
Skylar Weaver added 23 digs.
Lynn hit .252 for the match with 45 kills against 12 errors in 131 chances and were led by Nadia Rossi with 13 kills while Valentina Mogg added 11 kills. Ula Gorjup had 33 assists, Neill had a match-high five blocks and Clara Maidantchik had a match-high 32 digs.
Match 2 – UMSL 3 Flagler 1
The Tritons hit .390 in the opening set against the Saints (3-7) as Santel and Johnson combined for 10 of UMSL's 19 kills in the frame. The Tritons fell behind early before leading by as many as five at 12-7 after a kill from Johnson. Flagler cut it two on multiple occasions but wouldn't get any closer as UMSL won the opener 25-22.
The Tritons built a five-point lead in the second stanza but the Saints countered taking an 18-16 lead after a kill from Marley Middlebrooks. That would be Flagler's last lead as UMSL ran off four straight points to retake the lead. The Tritons were able to close out the frame scoring five of the final nine points to win it 25-22 and take the 2-0 lead.
Flagler, looking to extend the match, jumped out to an 11-7 lead in the third set and led by as many as eight points at 20-12. UMSL made a late run fighting off four set points to even things at 24 after an attack error from Cassidy Bloom. The Tritons were unable to complete the comeback as Middlebrooks and Clare Sheedy recorded back-to-back kills to give the set to the Saints 26-24.
Flagler carried that momentum into set four racing out to a 6-1 lead but UMSL recovered eventually taking an 18-14 lead on a kill from Cassady. The Triton lead grew to five after an error from Middlebrooks. A kill from Santel set up match point for UMSL and after a service error, Santel knocked home another kill to end the contest.
The Tritons hit .357 for the match with 64 kills against 13 errors in 143 attempts. Santel led UMSL with 18 kills while Cassady added 16 and Copeland finished with 11. Bishop finished with 49 assists, two aces and a block and Weaver had a match-high 13 digs.
The Tritons conclude play at the Hyatt Place Bash at the Beach on Saturday taking on Palm Beach Atlantic at 9 a.m. (CDT) at Rubin Arena in West Palm Beach, Fla.
