UMSL Beaten in Five Games by Drury

Riverwomen Stumble to Drury 3-2

St. Louis, Mo. – For the second straight match, the UMSL volleyball lost 3-2, failing to hold on for a win after winning the first two games of the match. The Riverwomen won the opening two games to Drury on Tuesday night, only to see the Panthers come back and win the next three for the 3-2 (23-30, 26-30, 30-20, 32-30, 15-9) victory.

Kathryn Freeman (Goodyear, Ariz./Centennial) sparked UMSL in the early going, recording seven kills in the opening game as UMSL won 30-23. The Riverwomen continued to control the match in the second game, winning 30-26. The third game saw the Riverwomen stumble, as Drury came back strong and took the third game 30-20. The fourth game was the deciding game of the match, as Drury jumped out to a quick lead and UMSL had to fight to get back into contention. The Riverwomen trailed by as many as seven points, but came back and tied it at 18-18. It was back and forth after that, and UMSL eventually took a 29-27 lead before Drury scored five of the next six points to win 32-30. The fifth game saw the teams tied 7-7 before the Panthers clawed their way to the lead, scoring the next five points to win the game 15-9.

UMSL was led by Kathryn Freeman with 23 kills and 23 digs. Nikki Pagels (Fox River Grove, Ill./Cary Grove) added 15 kills and Melissa Frost (Cincinnati, Ohio/McNicholas) had 14 kills and three blocks. Stacey Pearl (Irvine, Calif./Woodbridge) had 34 assists on the night as well.

The Riverwomen fall to 4-8 on the season and will hit the road this weekend when they travel to play conference games at Bellarmine on Friday, and at Northern Kentucky on Saturday.