Close Match Ends in Five-Set Loss for UMSL

Daria Sak Sets School Career Digs Record

St. Louis, Mo. – The Missouri-St. Louis volleyball team fought a back-and-forth battle with Northern Kentucky on Friday night before dropping a close five-set match, losing 27-30, 33-31, 30-28, 28-30, 15-12. In the loss, UMSL’s Daria Sak (Barrington, Ill./Barrington) recorded 22 digs and set a new school record for career digs in the loss. Sak now has 1,256 career digs, breaking the previous record early in the first game of the match.

Daria Sak led the team with 17 kills in the match, and Heather Nichols (Black Earth, Wis./Edgewood) and Claudia Medina (Las Cruces, N.M./Las Cruces) added 15 kills each in the loss. Nichols added 21 digs and Ashley Richmond (Milford, Ohio/Milford) had assists.

UMSL came from behind to win the first game, as the Riverwomen trailed 24-22 before scoring five straight points to lead 27-24. UMSL then closed out the first game with a kill from Claudia Medina to win 30-27. The second game would come back to haunt the Riverwomen, as UMSL had its biggest lead at 21-10 before NKU mounted a comeback. The Norse put together a combination of small runs, and would close the gap and tie the game at 26-26. The lead went back and forth until NKU got two straight points to win 33-31. The Norse then rode that momentum through the third game, but UMSL put up a strong fight. UMSL had an early 5-2 lead in that game, but the score would be tied a total of 15 times in the third game, the last at 27-27 when NKU reeled off two straight points and won the third game 30-28.

The Riverwomen fought back yet again, and came from an early deficit in the fourth game, and tied it up at 10-10. The game would be tied again at 25-25 when UMSL got two straight points for a late lead. UMSL then held the lead at 29-28 before closing out the fourth game win on a kill from Heather Nichols for the 30-28 win. In the fifth game, NKU grabbed the quick lead at 2-0 and never trailed the rest of the way. UMSL closed the gap to just one point on several occasions, the last at 13-12 before NKU got the final two points to win the match.

UMSL is now 6-10 on the season and 2-5 in the GLVC. The Riverwomen will be at home again on Saturday at 1 pm against Kentucky Wesleyan.