KIRKSVILLE, Mo. - Truman volleyball turned in its most well-rounded effort of the season in Friday night's sweep of Indianapolis. Well, that is until Saturday afternoon rolled around. The Bulldogs made quick work of Saint Joseph's (one hour, 11 minutes) and got stronger as the match progressed with set scores of 25-17, 25-14 and 25-11.
With the win, Truman has won five of its last seven and four of five on this homestand to improve to 12-14 overall and 9-4 in the GLVC. On the other side, Saint Joseph's fell to 6-19 on the season and 2-11 in league play. Since opening 2016 at 3-11, the Purple and White have gone 9-3 since, including 7-1 in conference action.
The three Bulldog seniors that were recognized before the start of play,
Lacey Hill,
Bailey O'Drobinak and
Kayla Bastian, each had seven kills, but this day was all about
Jasmine Brown. In quite possibly her best match of the year, Brown sent home 14 kills to only one error on 25 total attacks for an absurd .520 hitting percentage. That marked the first time in 67 career matches that the Houston, Texas native registered a hitting percentage of at least .500 with 10 or more kills. Brown also tallied five digs and three block assists. Truman's other leaders included
Savvy Hughes (36 assists),
Claire Wandrey (two service aces),
Natalie Brimeyer (career-high 11 blocks), and
Lauren Wacker (20 digs).
As a team, the Bulldogs were absolutely dominant above the net as they assisted on 30 blocks, their most since November 16, 2013 at Missouri-St. Louis when they had 34 block assists. Truman's 15 total blocks tied a season high that was set on September 24 against Bellarmine. The Bulldogs also hit a red-hot .287 for the match, their best offensive effort since October 7 at Maryville (.357/eight matches). The Pumas hit just -.018, the lowest for a Truman opponent since September 27, 2013 when Illinois Springfield hit -.039. In fact, that was also the last time a Bulldog opponent even had a negative hitting percentage.
In the first set, the home team pushed its lead to four multiple times (8-4, 9-5, 10-6, and 11-7), but Saint Joseph's kind of hung around throughout. After that 11-7 lead, Truman outscored the Pumas 14-10 the rest of the way en route to a set victory and 1-0 match lead. For the next set, the two teams were tied at 2-2 until the Bulldogs rattled off seven of a possible nine points to go up five, 9-4. From that point on, the margin was never smaller than three and the hosts led by as many as 11 (21-10, 22-11 and 25-14. 16 points into the third set, the two squads were tied 8-8 and Truman decided they were going to make it a decisive win. The Bulldogs ended the set with a 17-3 spurt, won it by 14 points and had swept the match without much doubt in the gym.
Truman will now hit the road for four of its final five regular season matches and that begins with a trip to Lewis on Friday with first serve set for 7 p.m.
