The UMSL Tritons are 17-0 and ranked No. 4 in the country. (Photo: Thomas Grove)
Nora Nichols
Staff Writer
The No. 4-ranked University of Missouri-St. Louis women’s volleyball team will be in action this weekend, when it travels to Hammond, Ind., to play in the Midwest Region Crossover at the Hammond SportsPlex.
About the Midwest Region Crossover – The Crossover is a regional competition contested between schools from the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC), the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) and the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC).
This year marks the 15th annual edition of the event and the third straight year it’ll be held in Hammond. The event, designed to increase competition between teams from the three leagues in the NCAA Division II Midwest Region, has previously been held in Indianapolis, Ind., Lansing, Mich., and Aurora, Ill.
UMSL is scheduled to take the court for two matches on Friday as the GLVC’s top seed, facing Tiffin in the opener at 9 a.m. before meeting Davenport in a 2 p.m. contest. The results of Friday’s matches will determine placement and pairings for Saturday’s day two competition.
Last Time Out – The Tritons improved to 17-0, 5-0 GLVC with road wins at UIndy and Lewis last weekend. UMSL needed four sets to defeat the Greyhounds last Friday and then had to rally from a 2-1 deficit to earn a five-set win over the 15th ranked Flyers on Saturday. Delaney Humm led the Triton attack averaging 4.89 kills per set while hitting .474 including a career-high 26 kills at Lewis.
AVCA Rankings – The Tritons are ranked fourth in the latest AVCA/Taraflex Top 25 Coaches Poll for the third consecutive week. Wayne State (Neb.) continues to hold the top spot while Concordia-St. Paul is two and Tampa is third. UMSL is the highest GLVC school ranked this week followed by Lewis at 15, Rockhurst is 25th and Quincy is receiving votes.
League Leaders – As a team, UMSL leads the GLVC in five offensive categories: hitting percentage (.283), assists (13.78 per set), kills (14.84 per set), service aces (2.22 per set) and points (18.53 per set). The Tritons also rank sixth in opponent hitting percentage (.179), second in opponent kills (11.38 per set) and opponent service aces (1.19 per set), third in opponent digs (14.40 per set) and sixth in digs at 16.69 per set.
Lexie Rang and Humm are fourth and fifth in the conference in kills per set with 4.20 and 4.13 respectively. Rang and Trysta Foster are tied for first in service aces per set with 0.54. Rang is also second in the league in points at 4.96 per set while Humm is seventh (4.27 per set). Caitlin Bishop is tops in assists averaging 12.03 per set, Kylie Adams is third in digs with 4.78 per set while Mya Elliott and Hailey Flowers are both in the top 10 in hitting percentage. Elliott ranks third with a .397 attack percentage while Flowers is eighth at .325.
About Tiffin – The Dragons enter Friday’s match as the sixth seed from the G-MAC and are 10-8 on the season including 5-5 in conference play. Tiffin went 1-1 last week defeating Malone in straight sets last Friday but lost to No. 24 Walsh in four sets on Saturday.
Kenedi Goon and Wakaya Wilson lead the Dragon attack averaging 2.61 and 2.52 kills per set respectively. Conti Addison directs the offense and is averaging 7.13 assists per set. Kaylee Freund leads the way on the front line with 87 total blocks and is averaging 1.28 per set while Olivia Karhoff leads the team with 249 digs and is averaging 3.83 per set.
About Davenport – The Panthers enter Friday’s contest as the fourth seed from the GLIAC and are 8-9 including 5-4 in conference action. They are 3-1 in their last four contests with that lone loss being to No. 20 Ferris State in straight sets last Friday.
Lindsey Taylor, Abby Ala and Sydney Swan are each averaging over two kills per set for Davenport. Taylor is at 2.86 per set while Alan is averaging 2.29 and Swan is at 2.02. Nicole Odeen and Lexie Beeke split time at the setter position with Odeen averaging 5.74 assists per set while Beeke is handing out an average of 3.69 per set. Emily Webb leads the team with 42 blocks and Stephanie Kalinowski is averaging a team best 4.72 digs per set.
Series History – UMSL won the only previous meeting against Tiffin at the 2010 Midwest Region Crossover in Aurora, Ill.
The Tritons are 2-0 all-time against Davenport and Friday’s match marks the third straight season the two sides have met. UMSL won last season’s matchup 3-1 at the Crossover.
Up Next – UMSL is back at home next weekend hosting Missouri S&T and Maryville at the Mark Twain Building.
UMSL sports information contributed to this story.
2023 UMSL Tritons Women’s Volleyball Schedule
| Date | Time | At | Opponent | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 13, 2023 (Friday) | 9 a.m. | Neutral | Tiffin | Hammond, Ind. / Hammond Sportsplex |
| October 13, 2023 (Friday) | 2 p.m. | Neutral | Davenport | Hammond, Ind. / Hammond Sportsplex |
| October 14, 2023 (Saturday) | TBA | Neutral | Midwest Region Crossover | Hammond, Ind. / Hammond Sportsplex |
| October 20, 2023 (Friday) | 6 p.m. | Home | Missouri S&T | Mark Twain Building |
| October 21, 2023 (Saturday) | 3 p.m. | Home | Maryville | Mark Twain Building |
| October 27, 2023 (Friday) | 6 p.m. | Away | Upper Iowa | Fayette, Iowa / Dorman Memorial Gymnasium |
| October 28, 2023 (Saturday) | 3 p.m. | Away | Truman State | Kirksville, Mo. / Pershing Arena |
| November 3, 2023 (Friday) | 6 p.m. | Home | Illinois Springfield | Mark Twain Building |
| November 4, 2023 (Saturday) | 3 p.m. | Home | Quincy | Mark Twain Building |
| November 10, 2023 (Friday) | 6 p.m. | Away | Drury | Springfield, Mo. / O’Reilly Family Events Center |
| November 11, 2023 (Saturday) | 1 p.m. | Away | Southwest Baptist | Bolivar, Mo. / John Q. Hammons Court |
| November 17-19, 2023 | TBA | Neutral | GLVC Tournament | Williamsville, Ill./Williamsville High School Fieldhouse |