The UMSL Tritons celebrate winning a key point during Thursday’s NCAA Midwest Regional semifinal against Grand Valley State. (Photo: Cedric Williams)

NCAA Midwest Regional – Semifinal	1	2	3	4	Final
#5 Grand Valley State (27-5)	15	25	17	13	(1)
#1 UMSL (32-1)	25	23	25	25	(3)

Nora Nichols
Staff Writer

NORMANDY, MO — In Friday’s NCAA Midwest Regional semifinal match against Grand Valley State, the University of Missouri-St. Louis women’s volleyball team was the home team, but still chose to wear its red jerseys.

That choice symbolized the red-hot start the No. 1-seeded Tritons would get on, as it stormed right past the No. 5-seeded Lakers, in what would prove to be a three sets to one victory that ended Grand Valley State’s season and will send UMSL to the regional championship game on Saturday.

UMSL, now 32-1 on the year, will play No. 2 seed Ferris State for the Midwest Regional championship. That contest will also be at the Mark Twain Building and is slated to begin at 7 p.m.

The Tritons got there by dominating the Lakers in the three sets it won. That began with the first set, which UMSL never trailed in, after jumping out to a 6-1 lead. Grand Valley State never knew what hit them as UMSL won the set 25-15.

UMSL had the lead in the second set also, but that time Grand Valley State rallied back to win 25-23.

The third set went back and forth, with both teams leading at different points. But the key stretch came midway through, when the Tritons turned a 12-11 deficit a 17-14 lead by winning seven of the next nine points.

The Lakers tried to rally, but could never get closer than two points and eventually saw UMSL win the final five points to take the set 25-17.

The fourth set was all UMSL. The Tritons never trailed and took the lead for good at 2-1.

UMSL won at least four points in a row, four different times, and led by as much as 22-9, before eventually closing out the set and match with a 25-13 win.

Just as she did in Thursday’s quarterfinal win over Missouri S&T, Delaney Humm led all with 15 kills. Teammates Lexie Rang and Hailey Flowers had 14 kills and 12 kills, respectively.

Middle blocker Mya Elliott contributed nine kills and four blocks to the Triton cause, while setter Caitlin Bishop had 51 assists.

Ferris State (27-7), the GLIAC league champions, advanced to the regional final by knocking off Rockhurst, three sets to one, in the first semifinal of the day. Four Bulldog players reached double-digits in kills, and setter Kaylee Maat dished out 45 assists.

The Midwest Regional Championship Match will be streamed live on NCAA.com.

#5 Grand Valley St. (27-5)

#	Player	SP	Attack				Set		Serve		Block			Def		Rec
			K	E	TA	Pct	A	E	SA	SE	BS	BA	BE	DIG	BHE	RE	Pts
1	Gates, Madison	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0.0
8	Jacquay, Rachel	4	0	0	0	0	17	1	0	0	0	0	0	8	1	0	0.0
7	Wight, Sarah	4	11	2	28	.321	0	0	1	1	1	7	0	3	0	0	16.5
10	Gates, Jordyn	4	10	7	41	.073	17	1	1	0	0	5	0	11	0	1	13.5
4	Blaney, Julia	4	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	15	0	1	0.0
9	O’Sullivan, Meghan	4	6	5	20	.050	1	0	0	0	0	2	0	1	0	0	7.0
13	Stawski, Brianna	4	0	5	11	-.455	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	2	0	0	1.5
5	Stover, Kendall	4	4	3	16	.063	0	0	0	3	0	0	1	10	0	3	4.0
14	Goudreau, Kate	4	5	4	22	.045	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	0	0	6.0
11	Johnson, McKenzie	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.0
6	Sanders, Paige	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0.5
TM	TEAM	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0.0
	Totals		36	26	138	.072	36	2	2	4	1	20	1	54	1	9	49

#1 UMSL (32-1)

#	Player	SP	Attack				Set		Serve		Block			Def		Rec
			K	E	TA	Pct	A	E	SA	SE	BS	BA	BE	DIG	BHE	RE	Pts
10	Elliott, Mya	4	9	3	19	.316	0	0	0	0	2	4	1	2	0	0	13.0
18	Rang, Lexie	4	14	6	42	.190	0	0	3	0	0	2	0	8	0	0	18.0
14	Humm, Delaney	4	15	11	38	.105	0	0	0	0	1	1	2	3	0	0	16.5
1	Flowers, Hailey	4	12	2	27	.370	0	0	0	1	0	2	0	2	0	0	13.0
9	Adams, Kylie	4	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	1	0	0	0	20	0	0	0.0
7	Foster, Trysta	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	2.0
2	Edson, Rylee	4	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	1	0	0	0	9	0	0	1.0
5	Bishop, Caitlin	4	1	0	5	.200	51	2	0	1	0	1	0	9	0	0	1.5
17	Copeland, Hannah	4	5	1	9	.444	0	0	0	1	0	2	1	1	0	0	6.0
12	Weaver, Skylar	4	0	0	0	0	1	0	3	1	0	0	0	13	0	2	3.0
TM	TEAM	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.0
	Totals		56	23	140	.236	56	2	9	7	3	12	4	68	0	2	74

2023 NCAA Midwest Region Tournament
Quarterfinals – Thursday, November 30 – Normandy, Mo. (Mark Twain Building)
Match 1 – No. 3 Lewis (26-6) vs. No. 6 Rockhurst (21-7) – Lewis won 3-2
Match 2 – No. 2 Ferris State (25-7) vs. No. 7 Hillsdale (27-6) – Ferris State won 3-2
Match 3 – No. 1 UMSL (30-1) vs. No. 8 Missouri S&T (18-10) – UMSL won 3-1
Match 4 – No. 4 Quincy (24-5) vs. No. 5 Grand Valley State (26-4) – Grand Valley State won 3-0

Semifinals – Friday, December 1 – Normandy, Mo. (Mark Twain Building)
Semifinal 1 – No. 6 Rockhurst vs. No. 2 Ferris State – Ferris State won 3-1
Semifinal 2 – No. 5 Grand Valley State vs. No. 1 UMSL – UMSL won 3-1

Championship Game – Saturday, December 2 – Normandy, Mo. (Mark Twain Building)
Championship Game – No. 2 Ferris State vs. No. 1 UMSL – 7 pm