KIRKSVILLE, Mo. - The Truman volleyball team led visiting Drury two sets to one before dropping sets four and five in a GLVC thriller on Friday night inside Pershing Arena.

With the win, the Panthers improved to 16-7 overall and 7-3 in the league while the Bulldogs now sit at 8-14 on the season and 6-4 in conference play. The home team was led by Kayla Bastian (15 kills), Savvy Hughes (25 assists), Lauren Wacker (pictured/four service aces and 18 digs), Natalie Brimeyer (six blocks), and Meghan Gasper (18 digs). Bastian, Hughes and Gasper each turned in double-double efforts.

The Breakdown

• Truman came out on fire and won the first set by nine points, 25-16, thanks to an attack percentage of .333, their best of the night.
• For that set, the Bulldogs registered nine kills to just one error on 24 total attacks and led by as many as nine five times (17-8, 18-9, 21-12, 24-15, and 25-16).
• The hosts used a 6-0 run to gain that first nine-point lead and for the set, Drury never scored more than three points in a row.
• The script flipped in the second set as the Panthers won that won by eight, 25-17.
• The away team hit .250 in that set with 13 kills and three errors on 40 swings.
• The Purple and White's latest lead came three points in at 2-1 and Drury later used an 8-0 spurt to go up 10, 22-12, its biggest advantage of the set.
• The third set was the tightest as it saw a combined nine ties and four lead changes.
• The last tie was 21-21 before Truman rattled off four of the final five points to go up 2-1 in the match.
• The fourth set was nearly just as tight with 10 ties and two lead changes.
• Towards the end, it was once again knotted up at 21-21, but the Panthers scored four of the final five this time.
• In the fifth, Drury led throughout in route to the 3-2 decision.

Next up, the Bulldogs will host Missouri S&T on Saturday with first serve set for 5 p.m.