CEDARVILLE, Ohio – The No. 24 University of Missouri-St. Louis volleyball team picked up its second straight win over a ranked opponent as it defeated No. 23 Gannon 3-1 (25-15, 25-15, 24-26, 25-23) in its final match at the Cedarville Invitational at the Callan Athletic Center on Saturday morning.
The Tritons improve to 2-1 on the season while the Golden Knights drop to 1-2.
UMSL scored the first five points to begin the match and wouldn't look back on its way to a 25-15 victory in the opening set. The Tritons hit .387 in the stanza with 14 kills and served six aces with four of those belonging to
Marly Burbach.
Bridget Cassady and
Alayna Santel combined for 11 of the team's 14 kills in the frame.
UMSL trailed by four early in the second set before going on a 9-0 run aided by five attack errors from Gannon. Santel had two aces and a kill while
Brooklyn Young and
Maggie Johnson had a kill apiece.
The Golden Knights cut the deficit to 14-10 but that was as close as they got as the Tritons closed the set on an 11-5 run to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the match.
Gannon didn't go quietly as it overcame a four-point deficit in the third frame to take a 20-17 lead. UMSL rallied to tie it at 22 but were unable to close out the set as the Golden Knights scored four of the final six points to win 26-24 and extend the match.
The Tritons jumped out to a five-point lead in set four but Gannon battled back to even the stanza at 17. UMSL regained the lead on a kill from Johnson and then back-to-back errors by Gabby Beaubrun and Abbey Williams extended the Triton lead to 20-17.
The Golden Knights used a 4-1 run to even the set at 21 on an ace from Carlee Webber but the Tritons got a kill from Johnson and the Burbach stuffed Ella Woltman to put UMSL in front 23-21. Gannon fought back once again to even it at 23 but back-to-back errors gave the Tritons a 25-23 victory.
UMSL hit .234 for the contest with 49 kills against 15 errors in 145 attempts and was led by Cassady with 17 kills while Santel added 12 more. Young and Johnson contributed eight and seven kills respectively. Burbach finished the match with 39 assists, eight aces, seven digs, three kills and a block.
Skylar Weaver had 23 digs in the contest.
The Golden Knights were held to a .127 attack percentage with 45 kills against 25 errors in 157 attempts. Williams led Gannon with 15 kills in the match. Ava Gainer had 34 assists and Alexis Fowler had a match-high 24 digs.
The Tritons are back in action next Friday (Sept. 4) taking on Oklahoma Baptist at 12:30 p.m. (CDT) in the Tampa Volleyball Classic in Tampa, Fla.
