BIG RAPIDS, Mich. – Lewis University's 19th ranked women's volleyball team dropped a hard fought five-set match to Missouri-St. Louis on Thursday (Dec. 2) evening in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament at Jim Wink Arena in Big Rapids, Mich.

Lewis raced out of the gates taking an early 5-1 lead but the Tritons (25-8) came back to tie the score at 10 on an attack error by Natalie Stefanski (Plainfield, Ill./Joliet West). The Flyers responded with a 5-2 run to take a 15-12 lead at the midpoint of the opening stanza when Mikah Freppon (Cold Spring, Ky./Newport Central Catholic) blocked Paige Yoder.

UMSL countred with an 8-3 run to take a 20-18 lead when Kaileen Herman and Mya Elliott teamed up to block Megan Schlechte (Strasburg, Ill./Stewardson-Strasburg). Lewis had one more run in them though as they outscored the Tritons 7-1 to close out the opening set with a 25-21 victory.

The Flyers trailed by three early in set two but fought back to take a 23-21 lead on a kill from Stefanski. UMSL scored back-to-back points to even things at 23 but Lewis got to set point first on another Stefanski kill. The Flyers had two chances to close out the set but the Tritons defense made some key plays to extend rallies and gave themselves an opportunity. UMSL took the lead at 27-26 on a kill from Karlyn Hannewald but Lewis got a kill from Freppon to even things at 27. The Tritons scored the final two points of the stanza to win 29-27 and even the match at a set apiece.

The Flyers led by four midway through the middle frame but UMSL charged back with a 9-3 run to take a 19-17 lead on an ace from Herman. Lewis regrouped going on a 6-2 run to retake the lead at 23-21 on a kill from Schlechte. The Tritons countered with three straight of its own to take a 24-23 lead and forced the Flyers to take their final timeout of the set. Lewis tied the score right after the timeout on an error by Olivia Klank. The two sides swapped the next six points and were still tied at 27 when UMSL got back-to-back kills from Charlotte Richards to win the set 29-27.

The Flyers led by four early in the fourth set but the Tritons came back to tie things at 20 on a kill from Yoder. Lewis closed out the set scoring five of the final seven points to win 25-22 on a kill from Schlechte to setup the winner take all final set.

The Flyers fell behind 7-4 in the fifth stanza but went on a 5-1 run to grab a 9-8 lead on a kill from Ava Venema (Westmont, Ill./Timothy Christian). UMSL countered with three straight points to take an 11-9 lead after back-to-back attack errors from Bella Ray (Plainfield, Ill./Joliet Catholic) and Freppon. Lewis fought back to even the set at 12 on a kill from Amanda Greening (Metamora, Ill./Metamora) but were unable to get over the hump as Richards recorded a kill and then Greening hit one out of bounds to give the Tritons two match points to work with.

The Flyers fought off the first one as Ray and Greening teamed up to block Richards but couldn't stave off the second one as Richards found an opening and knocked it down to give UMSL the 15-13 victory.

Lewis finished the contest hitting .153 recording 68 kills against 27 errors in 268 swings and was led by Schlechte with 17 kills while Venema added 16 and Greening and Stefanski finished with 13 and 11 kills respectively. Freppon finished with 47 assists in the contest and Jamie Poppen (Ballwin, Mo./Parkway West) finished with a match and career-high 50 digs. She became the school's all-time leader in career digs with 2,133 passing Amy Choi's mark of 2,108.

The Tritons hit .129 for the match with 68 kills against 33 errors in 271 chances and were led by Richards with a match-high 20 kills while Klank added 15 and Hannewald and Elliott had 12 and 10 kills respectively. Herman had a match-high 51 assists and Megan Woll finished with 43 digs.

The Flyers finish their season with a record of 26-7.