UMSL Beats Saint Joseph's; Secures Seventh Seed in GLVC Tournament

St. Louis, Mo. – The Missouri-St. Louis volleyball team defeated Saint Joseph’s 3-1 (30-24, 25-30, 30-27, 30-22) to secure the seventh seed in next weekend’s Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament which will be hosted by SIU Edwardsville. UMSL will face second seeded Rockhurst on Thursday, November 2, at 2:30 pm in their first round matchup.

The first game was tied at 5-5 before UMSL scored ten straight points to take control of the opening game. Christy Trame (Highland, Ill./Highland) had three kills during that scoring run and Erin Denton (Crystal City, Mo./Crystal City) added two kills to give UMSL a ten-point advantage. Saint Joseph’s would cut the UM-St. Louis lead down to five points, but UMSL cruised to a 30-23 win in the opening game. The Pumas came back in the second game and led from start to finish to even the match at one game a piece.

UM-St. Louis would take the edge with a win in the third game. With the score tied 7-7, UMSL scored four straight points for an early lead. Saint Joseph’s slowly came back to tie the game at 23-23, but UMSL broke a 24-24 tie with four straight points to take control and won the third game 30-27. The fourth game had five ties early, but UMSL extended an 11-10 lead to a seven point advantage with a 6-0 run, getting two service aces from Natalie Barnard (Poseyville, Ind./North Posey) during that run and the Pumas could get no closer than five points the rest of the game as UMSL won 30-22 to win the match.

UMSL was led by Christy Trame with 16 kills and four blocks, and Erin denton had 13 kills, 14 digs and four blocks, including three solo blocks. Claudia Medina (Las Cruces, N.M./Las Cruces) and Lauren Hampton (Olathe, Kan./DeSoto) added ten kills each and Lisa Brinker (Washington, Mo./Washington) had 49 assists. Joslyn Brown (Plainfield, Ill./Joliet Catholic) led UMSL with 19 digs in the win as well.

UM-St. Louis improves to 11-17 on the season and finishes up the GLVC season with an even 8-8 record. UMSL secured the seventh seed in next weekend’s GLVC Tournament and will play on Thursday, November 2, against second seeded Rockhurst.