Springfield, Ill. – The University of Missouri-St. Louis volleyball team extended its winning streak to seven with a 3-0 (25-21, 25-8, 25-13) win against Illinois Springfield on Saturday afternoon at The Recreation and Athletics Center in Springfield, Ill. The Tritons improve to 9-5, 4-0 GLVC while the Prairie Stars are 4-10, 1-3 GLVC.
UMSL jumped out to a 4-1 lead to start the match but UIS countered with a 13-5 run to take its largest lead of the match at 14-9 on a kill from Maddie Mendelblatt. After a timeout the Tritons responded with a 10-3 run to take a 19-17 lead after back-to-back attack errors from Kendall Johnson.
The Prairie Stars rallied to tie it at 21 on a kill from Alyssa Gray but wouldn't retake the lead as UMSL scored the final four points of the set to win 25-21.
Alayna Santel had two kills in the run while
Maggie Johnson added a kill and an ace.
The second set was all Tritons as they used a 15-1 run to turn an early one-point deficit into a 13-point lead. UMSL led by as many as 17 points in the stanza on the way to the 25-8 victory. The Tritons hit .368 in the frame with 17 kills and were led by Santel with seven kills while
Brooklyn Young added six kills.
The Tritons led wire-to-wire in the final set and led 17-9 after a kill from Johnson. UMSL extended its lead to as many as 13 before settling for the 25-13 win. The Tritons hit .294 in the frame with 17 kills against seven errors and were led by Johnson and
Bridget Cassady with five kills each.
UMSL finished the match with a hitting percentage of .319 recording 52 kills against 14 errors in 119 attempts and were led by Santel with 14 kills while Johnson added 13 kills and Cassady finished with 10 kills.
Marly Burbach handed out 35 assists while
Mady Gant added two blocks and
Skylar Weaver finished with 19 digs.
UIS was held to a .053 hitting percentage with 17 kills against 12 errors in 95 attacks and were led by Gray with seven kills. Madi Siefken had 13 assists and Emma Frazier finished with 16 digs.
The Tritons are back at home on Friday (Oct. 2) hosting Truman State at 6 p.m. at the Mark Twain Building.
