Box Score | Season Stats
(BOLIVAR, Mo.) – Senior Allison Barker (Racine, Wis.) recorded her ninth double-double of the season and the No. 11 Truman defense forced Southwest Baptist to tread water all night on its attack en route to a 3-0 (-20, -14, -17) victory on Wednesday night.
Barker's 11 kills paced a Truman (22-4, 11-3 MIAA) squad that hit .220 on its own while holding SBU (8-17, 3-10) to just a .025 mark. The Bulldogs and Bearcats played evenly throughout the first set, with Truman holding a 12-11 edge, before three quick Bulldog points expanded the lead to four and forced an SBU timeout. From there, Truman never lost its lead and took the opener, 25-20.
In the second set, it was all Truman from the get-go, as the Bulldogs opened a 7-1 lead and never looked back in cruising to a 25-14 win. The 'Dog defense held SBU to a -.125 hitting percentage to take a 2-up lead into intermission.
The Bulldogs again held a slim advantage through much of the third set but led by just one at 18-17 following a kill by SBU's Marcy Greenwade. But Truman took matters into its own hands the rest of the way, rattling off seven straight points to close the door and take a season sweep against the Bearcats. Sophomore Lauren Radix (Black Earth, Wis.) put away kills on three of the last four points to help Truman move into sole possession of third place in the MIAA through Tuesday night's matches.
Barker and sophomore Megan Sharpe (Edwardsville, Ill.) (ten kills) finished in double-figures offensively for Truman, with Radix adding seven kills and junior Molly Sinclair (St. Louis, Mo.) tacking on six. Senior libero Casey Bruno (Pearland, Texas) led all players with 22 digs, while senior setter Ashley Petak (Omaha, Neb.) took home top distributing honors with 17 assists.
The Bulldogs also added ten team blocks, led by four from Sharpe and three apiece by Radix and sophomore Emily Briseno (Lee's Summit, Mo.).
Truman returns to action this weekend with a pair of matches in Pershing Arena, starting on Friday night with Missouri Southern (14-10, 4-8 MIAA) at 7 pm.
