Quincy, Ill. – The University of Missouri-St. Louis volleyball team hung on for a 3-2 (25-21, 25-16, 19-25, 24-26, 15-10) win against Quincy on Friday evening at Pepsi Arena in Quincy, Ill. Is the sixth straight win for the Tritons as they improve to 8-5 and are 3-0 in conference play while the Hawks drop to 9-6, 0-3 GLVC.
The opening set went back-and-forth with neither side holding more than a two-point advantage until late. Quincy led 19-17 after an ace from Monika Bilikova but UMSL scored eight of the final 10 points to win 25-21.
Maggie Johnson had seven kills in the stanza while
Alayna Santel and
Bridget Cassady added four kills each.
The Tritons never trailed in the second set as they raced out to an early four-point lead. The Hawks made a run midway through the frame to get within 17-15 after a kill from Selin Turgut but that was as close as they got as UMSL ended the set on an 8-1 run to take the 2-0 lead in the match.
Quincy wouldn't go quietly as it jumped out to a seven-point lead in the third set but the Tritons rallied cutting the deficit to 12-11 on a kill from Johnson. UMSL would be unable to take the lead as the Hawks pushed its lead back out to five and would win 25-19 to extend the match.
The Tritons trailed by as many as four points in the fourth set before going on a 9-2 run to take a 23-20 lead after a kill from
Brooklyn Young. UMSL was unable to close out the match despite having a match point as Quincy closed the set on a 6-1 to run to force a fifth and deciding set.
In the final frame the Hawks jumped out to a 5-3 lead but the Tritons responded with a 7-1 run to take a 10-6 advantage after Young and
Marly Burbach teamed up to block Turgut. Quincy countered with a 3-0 run of its own to pull within 10-9 but wouldn't get any closer as UMSL scored five of the last six points to win 15-10.
The Tritons hit .292 in the contest with 67 kills against 18 errors in 168 attempts and were led by Cassady with 19 kills while Johnson and Santel added 17 and 15 kills respectively. Burbach had a career-high 61 assists, Young, Santel and Burbach had three blocks each and
Skylar Weaver had a career-high 38 digs.
The Hawks had an attack percentage of .229 with 57 kills against 19 errors in 166 swings and were led by Aysem Kocaalp with 17 kills and 22 digs while Erin Matzke added 12 kills and Turgut finished with 11 kills. Macey Rooco had 43 assists.
UMSL is back in action on Saturday (Sept. 26) as it travels to Springfield, Ill., to take on Illinois Springfield at 3 p.m. at The Recreation and Athletic Center.
