UMSL Forces #2 Washington University to Five Games

St. Louis, Mo. – After a slow start, the UMSL women's volleyball team fought back to force a fifth game against 2nd-ranked Washington University-St. Louis, but still came away with a 3-2 loss (30-24, 30-27, 26-30, 27-30, 15-7).

Washington jumped out to a quick 11-4 lead in the first game, and UMSL could get no closer than four points at 21-17 the rest of the way as the Bears won the opening game 30-24. In the second game, neither team got a big lead as it was tied a total of eight times. Trailing 17-13, UMSL fought back with five straight points to take an 18-17 lead after a kill from Christy Trame (Highland, Ill./Highland). The Bears came back an retook the lead and ould hold on for the 30-27 win and a two games to none lead.

UMSL then played two tough games, winning both, to force the fifth game. In the third game, UMSL jumped out to a 10-5 lead and never gave up the lead the rest of the game. The lead was as many as six points at 16-10 after an ace from Trame. Washington got within a point at 21-20, but after a timeout UMSL got a kill from Erin Denton (Crystal City, Mo./Crystal City) and UMSL went on for the 30-26 win in the third game. UMSL trailed by six points, 12-6, early in the fourth game, but responded with a 6-1 run at that point to take make it a one-point deficit at 13-12. UM-St. Louis would later take their first lead of the game on a block that made it 18-17. The game would be tied four more times, the last coming at 23-23 when UMSL scored the next two points for a 25-23 lead and held on for the 30-27 win to force a fifth game. The fifth game was tied five times in the early going, that last at 5-5 before Washington University closed it out with 10 of the next 12 points to win 15-7.

UMSL was led by Christy Trame with 23 kills and Erin Denton added 14 kills and had just two hitting errors. Joslyn Brown (Plainfield, Ill./Joliet Catholic) led UMSL with 20 digs, Lisa Brinker (Washington, Mo./Washington) had 52 assists and 13 digs while Sarah Eisnaugle (Newark, Ill./Newark) recorded seven total blocks.

UM-St. Louis is now 9-16 on the season and will return to conference action this Saturday when they travel to play at Kentucky Wesleyan on Saturday at 1 pm.