UMSL Serves Up a Win Over Drury

Riverwomen Record 11 Aces in 3-1 Victory

St. Louis, Mo. – The Missouri-St. Louis volleyball team got a big conference win on Tuesday night, defeating Drury 3-1 (30-27, 24-30, 30-26, 30-22). UMSL had 61 kills on the night, the most this season in a match that did not go to five games and recorded 11 service aces on the night as well.

The first game was close for most of the game until UMSL used a run to take the lead midway though. Trailing by two points, the Riverwomen got five straight to lead 22-16. Drury would claw back and cut the deficit to just one point at 26-25, but UMSL got two straight kills from Sarah Eisnaugle (Newark, Ill./Newark) followed by an ace from Claudia Medina (Las Cruces, N.M./Las Cruces) and went on to win the first game 30-27. Drury got the early lead in the second game and led 15-12 when UMSL got three straight kills from Heather Nichols (Black Earth, Wis./Edgewood) to cut the deficit to one. The Panthers took off from there, leading by as many seven before closing it out for the 30-24 win.

The third game saw the Riverwomen fall behind 13-10 before scoring five straight points, including three service aces from Chelsea Baumstark (Hermann, Mo./Hermann) that gave UMSL a 15-13 lead. UMSL would extend that to a four-point lead before Drury came back and took a 24-23 lead. With the score tied at 25-25, UMSL would score five of the next six points, including two more service aces from Baumstark, to win 30-26. The fourth game saw Drury get a quick lead by scoring the first three points, but UMSL would come back. With the game tied at 9-9, the Riverwomen went on an 8-1 run to lead 17-10 and take control. UM-St. Louis would push that lead out to as many as ten points before winning 30-22 to take the match.

UMSL was led by Heather Nichols with 15 kills and 17 digs, and Claudia Medina added 12 kills and a team high 26 digs. Joslyn Brown (Plainfield, Ill./Joliet Catholic) had 24 digs and Sarah Eisnaugle had 12 kills in the match. Lisa Brinker (Washington, Mo./Washington) had 51 assists and 11 digs and Chelsea Baumstark recorded seven kills and six service aces.

UMSL is now 5-17 on the season and 5-6 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. The Riverwomen will be on the road this weekend to play at Northern Kentucky on Friday night and at Bellarmine on Saturday afternoon.