The UMSL women’s volleyball team has begun the new season with an eight game winning streak, after winning four in a row last weekend. (Photo: Primo Greenway)
Nora Nichols
Staff Writer
ST. AUGUSTINE, FL — The eighth-ranked University of Missouri-St. Louis women’s volleyball team extended its season-opening winning streak to eight straight matches by sweeping all four matches it played over the weekend at the Flagler Saints Classic. The Tritons (8-0) won matches on Friday in straight sets over Embry-Riddle and Flagler, then won 3-0 and 3-1 over Converse and Missouri Southern on Saturday.
No. 8 UMSL 3 Embry-Riddle 0
UMSL fell behind by three early before going on a 10-4 run to turn the deficit into a three-point lead after a kill from Hannah Copeland. The Eagles clawed back to within 17-16 after a kill from Jaden McBride. The Tritons pushed their lead back to four at 22-18 after Lexie Rang’s eighth kill of the set. ERU wouldn’t go quietly scoring three straight to get back to within 22-21 but UMSL countered again with back-to-back kills from Mya Elliott and Delaney Humm to get to set point first. The Eagles fought off the first two set points but not a third as Caitlin Bishop ended the frame with a kill.
The Tritons led wire-to-wire in the middle stanza as they hit a blistering 60.6 percent with 21 kills against one error in 33 chances. Embry-Riddle was just as impressive offensively hitting 44.4 percent registering 17 kills against one error in 36 swings. UMSL led by as many as five in the frame but needed a late run to hold off the Eagles comeback attempt to win the frame 25-20.
The Tritons jumped out to a five-point lead early in the third set but Embry-Riddle fought back to take a 16-15 lead after a kill from Jaden McBride. UMSL came right back scoring four straight to retake the lead at 19-16 after an ace serve from Trysta Foster. Just like the opening set, the Eagles punched back scoring four in a row of its own to take a 20-19 lead after a service ace from McBride. The Tritons scored five of the next seven points to reach match point at 24-22 after a kill from Copeland. ERU fought off the first set point but wouldn’t stave another as Copeland ended the match with her fifth kill of the contest to give UMSL the 25-23 win.
The Tritons hit a season-high .414 with 60 kills against 12 errors in 116 chances. Rang and Humm combined for 38 of those kills. Rang had a season-high 21 while Humm had a season-best 17. Bishop finished with a double-double recording 46 assists and 13 digs.
The Eagles hit an impressive .351 percent with 47 kills against five errors in 114 chances and were led by Hunter Ackerman with 15 kills while McBride added 14 kills and 11 digs. Grace Datil finished the match with 34 assists.
No. 8 UMSL 3 Flagler 0
In its second game of the day UMSL jumped out to an early three-point lead and led by as many as seven in the frame on its way to the 25-18 set win. Hailey Flowers led the Tritons with five kills in the stanza while Rang added four and Humm and Elliott finished with three kills each in the frame.
UMSL fell behind to begin the middle set but quickly turned that deficit into a lead and wouldn’t look back as it led by as many as eight in the stanza on its way to the 25-17 victory. The Tritons hit .400 in the frame with 17 kills against three errors in 35 chances. Humm had five of those kills while Elliott and Flowers finished with three apiece.
The final set was back-and-forth early before UMSL pulled away taking a 16-11 lead after an error by Molly Boyd. The Saints battled back to within 17-15 but wouldn’t get closer than two the rest of the way as the Tritons closed the match on an 8-5 run to win 25-20 on an ace serve from Rylee Edson.
UMSL hit .269 in the contest with 43 kills against 15 errors in 104 chances. Flowers and Humm led the way with 10 kills each. Rang added eight kills, Copeland had seven and Elliott finished with six. Bishop handed out 35 assists, Foster served six aces and Kylie Adams finished with 20 digs.
Flagler hit .207 for the match with 33 kills against 14 errors in 92 swings. Cassidy Bloom led the Saints with 10 kills. Lainee Mack and Amelia Fitzpatrick had 13 assists each and Fitzpatrick also had nine digs.
No. 8 UMSL 3 Converse 0
UMSL rolled past Converse in its opener on Saturday morning as it hit .473 for the match with 50 kills against six errors in 93 chances.
The Tritons trailed by three early before outscoring the Valkyries 23-7 the remainder of the set to take the opener 25-12. Delaney Humm led the UMSL attack with nine of the team’s 13 kills while Arika Richardson added three and Raina Forstrom had one.
The Tritons never trailed in the second set as they raced out to an early five-point lead. Converse made a run closing within 13-10 but wouldn’t get closer than that as UMSL closed the set on a 12-6 run to take the middle frame 25-16. Hailey Flowers had seven of the team’s 21 kills in the frame.
UMSL used a 10-4 run early in the final set to extend its lead from 8-6 to 18-10 and led by as many as 10 points before landing on the 25-16 final.
Humm had a match-high 13 kills while Flowers added 10 kills and Lexie Rang finished with seven kills. Caitlin Bishop had 31 assists and 10 digs while Kylie Adams recorded 12 digs to surpass the 1,000 digs mark for her career.
Tia Gripado led the Valkyries with 10 kills.
No. 8 UMSL 3 Missouri Southern 1
The Tritons struggled to get their offense going in the opening set against the Lions as it hit only .079 in the frame with 12 kills but committed nine errors. Four of those errors were because of the Missouri Southern block. The Lions were impressive offensively hitting .379 with 12 kills against only one error in 29 swings.
UMSL led by two early in the second set but a 5-0 run from MSSU forced a Triton timeout. Out of the timeout, the Tritons ran off four of the next five points to even the frame at 11. The Lions ran off four straight to retake the lead but UMSL countered with six in a row of its own to retake the lead on a kill from Rang.
Missouri Southern got back-to-back kills from Fernanda Canedo to even things at 17 but the Tritons rattled six of the next seven points to take a 23-18 lead after an error by Jaryn Benning. The Lions cut UMSL’s lead to 23-20 but wouldn’t get any closer as Rang and Mya Elliott blocked Laci Ownbey to set up set point and then Benning hit one out of bounds to give the Tritons the 25-20 victory.
The swing set went back-and-forth early before UMSL pulled away thanks to a 7-2 run to build a 16-10 advantage after an error by Benning. Missouri Southern ran off three straight points to cut the deficit in half but wouldn’t get any closer as the Tritons closed the set on a 9-4 run to win the stanza 25-17 on a kill from Flowers.
UMSL never trailed in the final frame as it scored the first three points and led by as many as 10 on its way to the 25-16 victory. The Tritons hit .333 with 18 kills against five errors in 39 chances in the frame while holding the Lions to .108 attack percentage.
UMSL hit .254 over the final three sets to finish the match with an attack percentage of .211 with 56 kills against 24 errors in 152 chances. Rang had a match and career-high with 24 kills and added 15 digs. Flowers added 13 kills while Humm finished with eight kills. Bishop had 49 assists and 18 digs.
Missouri Southern hit .158 for the contest with 37 kills against 14 errors in 146 chances. Canedo led MSSU with eight kills in the match.
The Tritons will be back in action next weekend with four matches in the McKendree Bearcat Classic at the Melvin Price Convocation Center in nearby Lebanon, Ill. On Friday, UMSL will play No. 25 Harding and crosstown rival Maryville. On Saturday, the Tritons will play Illinois-Springfield and host McKendree.
UMSL’s first home match will come in two weeks, when the Tritons will host William Jewell at the Mark Twain Building on Friday, September 22.
UMSL sports information contributed to this story.
2023 UMSL Tritons Women’s Volleyball Schedule
| Date | Time | At | Opponent | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 15, 2023 (Friday) | 11:30 a.m. | Neutral | Harding | Lebanon, Ill. / Harry Statham Court |
| September 15, 2023 (Friday) | 4:30 p.m. | Neutral | Maryville | Lebanon, Ill. / Harry Statham Court |
| September 16, 2023 (Saturday) | 11:30 a.m. | Neutral | Illinois Springfield | Lebanon, Ill. / Harry Statham Court |
| September 16, 2023 (Saturday) | 4:30 p.m. | Away | McKendree | Lebanon, Ill. / Harry Statham Court |
| September 22, 2023 (Friday) | 6 p.m. | Home | William Jewell | Mark Twain Building |
| September 23, 2023 (Saturday) | 3 p.m. | Home | Rockhurst | Mark Twain Building |
| September 30, 2023 (Saturday) | 3 p.m. | Home | McKendree | Mark Twain Building |
| October 6, 2023 (Friday) | 5 p.m. (CDT) | Away | Indianapolis | Indianapolis, Ind. / Ruth Lilly Fitness Center |
| October 7, 2023 (Saturday) | 3 p.m. | Away | Lewis | Romeoville, Ill. / Neil Carey Arena |
| October 13, 2023 (Friday) | TBA | Neutral | Midwest Region Crossover | 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 |