Southern Indiana Flys Past UMSL

Riverwomen Fall 3-1 to Screaming Eagles

St. Louis, Mo. – The Missouri-St. Louis volleyball team fell 3-1 (30-19, 30-28, 27-30, 30-20) to Southern Indiana on Friday night. The Screaming Eagles entered the match in first place in the GLVC and improved their conference record to 14-1 on the year while UMSL falls to 4-11 in the GLVC and 9-16 overall.

UMSL started off slow, giving up the first four points in the first game to USI. Trailing by two, the Riverwomen then gave up nine of the next ten points to trail 16-6 and could get no closer than eight points the rest of the way before losing 30-19 in the first game. The second game was close early, as it was tied five times, the last at 13-13 before UMSL took a 14-13 lead. Southern Indiana then used another run, outscoring UMSL 8-1 to take a six-point lead. Trailing by seven points, 26-19, UMSL would fight back to close the gap to just three points at 28-25, and then closed it to one point at 29-28 before losing the last point for a 30-28 loss in game two.

The Riverwomen continued to play hard in the third game, getting the early lead and pushing it out to a four-point advantage at 10-6. UMSL held that lead until midway through the game when USI used a 4-1 run to tie the game at 16-16. The game was tied eight more times as the teams went back and forth, the last tie coming at 24-24 before UMSL reeled off the next three points to lead 27-24. The Riverwomen held on from there and got a kill from Daria Sak (Barrington, Ill./Barrington) and a block from Mandi Fenner (St. Peters, Mo./Ft. Zumwalt South) and Devan McFerran (Urbana, Ill.) to close out the last two points and win game three 30-27. In the fourth game, it was tied at 7-7 when USI used their first run, scoring five of the next six points, to lead 12-8. The Screaming Eagles then used numerous small runs from there to extend the lead. UMSL stayed close, trailing by four points at 16-12 before USI went on a 6-0 run and cruised from there for the 30-20 win.

UMSL was led by Claudia Medina (Las Cruces, N.M./Las Cruces) with 14 kills and Heather Nichols (Black Earth, Wis./Edgewood) with 11 kills. Ashley Richmond (Milford, Ohio/Milford) led the team with 16 digs and 37 assists in the match.

UMSL is now 9-16 on the season and falls to 4-11 in the GLVC. The Riverwomen will be at home again on Saturday, in the final regular season match of the year when they host SIU Edwardsville at 1 pm.