UMSL junior Charlotte Richards had 17 kills and 16 digs in the Tritons’ 3-1 win over Lindenwood on Saturday.
by Cedric Williams
Senior Editor
The University of Missouri-St. Louis women’s volleyball team put a spectacular finish on its brilliant 2021 spring regular season schedule Saturday night at the Mark Twain Building, with a thrilling three sets to one victory over crosstown rival Lindenwood University.
Now officially champions of the GLVC Central Division, the Tritons finished the regular season with a 15-2 record, and will be the No. 2 seed in this weekend’s GLVC Championship Tournament.
UMSL will begin play in the GLVC Tournament Friday afternoon, when it will take on No. 7 seed Rockhurst at the EastSide Centre volleyball complex in East Peoria, Ill.
In Saturday’s win over Lindenwood, which UMSL won 25-15, 13-25, 25-21 and 25-23, several Triton players stood out. Junior outside hitter Charlotte Richards was an absolute force with a team-high 17 kills and 16 digs to lead the way.
Teammates Kaileen Herman, Karlyn Hannewald, and Megan Woll also stood out, with Herman posting a team-high 42 assists, Hannewald blasting home 14 kills, and Woll adding 27 digs. For Lindenwood, senior middle blocker Kat Fennerty had a game-high 20 kills and sophomore setter Allie Otten added 46 assists.
The two rival took turns dominating the first two sets. UMSL blew threw Lindenwood with ease in the first, but the Lions returned the favor by doing the same in set two.
The final two sets were much different, as neither team led by more than a couple of points, until UMSL pulled away in the late going both times. Lindenwood even had a lead late in the fourth set, but UMSL closed with a 5-2 run to put a final seal on the match.
The victory was UMSL’s ninth in a row and has the Tritons set up just where they want to be heading into the 2021 GLVC Tournament.
The loss was Lindenwood’s second in a row, following a five-game win streak of its own, and gave the Lions an 11-7 overall record. Though it proved to be shaky, those 11 wins were good enough to earn Lindenwood a berth into the GLVC Tournament as well.
The Lions will be the tournament’s No. 6 seed and will begin play Friday morning against No. 3 seed Southern Indiana.
Should both the Tritons and Lions win their first round matchup, they’d face each other again in the tournament semifinals on Saturday, with the winner of that match advancing to the tournament championship game on Sunday.