St. Louis – The University of Missouri-St. Louis volleyball team swept Southwest Baptist in its home and conference opener on Friday evening at the Mark Twain Building. The Tritons improve to 6-5, 1-0 GLVC while the Bearcats are 8-4, 0-1 GLVC.
UMSL used a 15-1 run in set one to build a 17-3 and would go onto win the frame 25-10 as it hit .522 with 12 kills against zero errors in 23 attempts.
Bridget Cassady led the way with five kills while
Alayna Santel and
Maggie Johnson had three and two respectively.
SBU jumped out to a 3-0 lead to start the middle frame and led by as many as four at 10-6 after a kill from Julia Marinesi. The Tritons responded with an 11-4 run to take a 17-14 lead after an error by Marinesi.
UMSL stretched its lead to 22-17 but the Bearcats kept battling clawing to within 24-22 before a kill from Santel ended the stanza.
The final set was the tight with seven ties and two lead changes. It was tied at 11 when the Tritons broke free scoring four straight points behind two kills from Santel. UMSL extended that lead to 19-12 but SBU didn't go quietly as it responded with a 7-2 run to pull within 21-19. The Tritons regrouped scoring the next three points setting up match point. The Bearcats fought off the first match point but not the second as Johnson knocked home a kill to end the match.
UMSL hit .424 for the contest with 46 kills against seven errors in 92 swings and were led by Johnson with 15 while Cassady and Santel had 12 and 11 respectively.
Marly Burbach handed out 39 assists,
Mady Gant finished with three blocks and
Skylar Weaver added 11 digs.
SBU finished the match with an attack percentage of .202 with 36 kills against 15 errors in 104 attempts and were led by Hanna Klein with 10 kills while Marinesi and Gabriela Dupree had eight kills each. Allie Hawks had 22 assists and Melissa Patel had a match-high 14 digs.
The Tritons are back at home on Saturday hosting Drury at 3 p.m. at the Mark Twain Building.
