KIRKSVILLE, Mo. - With only two matches left in the 2016 regular season, it's crunch time for the Truman volleyball team and it seemed like the Bulldogs were pretty aware of that on Tuesday night inside Pershing Arena. They had little problem defeating Quincy in straight sets and did so with set scores of 25-21, 25-22 and 25-17.
With the win, Truman swept the season series with Quincy and inched closer to the .500 mark at 14-15 overall while improving to 11-5 in the GLVC. Meanwhile, the Hawks fell to 16-12 on the year and 10-6 in league play. Leading the Bulldogs to victory were
Kayla Bastian (pictured/10 kills),
Jasmine Brown (10 kills),
Savvy Hughes (33 assists and two blocks),
Lauren Wacker (two service aces and 16 digs),
Natalie Brimeyer (two blocks), and
Bailey O'Drobinak (two blocks).
After tonight's win, Truman has a pretty tight hold on the No. two spot in the Western Division. The top three teams from each side as well as two wild cards will qualify for the GLVC tournament to be played on Nov. 18-20 in East Peoria, Ill. at the EastSide Centre. Those two wild cards will be for the best remaining records regardless of division.
The Breakdown
- In the first set, Quincy built an early lead of three, 5-2, before Truman used a 7-1 run of its own to go ahead by three, 9-6.
- During that stretch, Brown had two kills and the Hawks didn't help themselves with three errors.
- The Bulldogs would eventually build a lead as big as eight, 21-13, but the Hawks didn't go away quietly.
- With an 8-3 run, the visitors pulled back to within three, 24-21, before the home team tallied the final point and a 1-0 match lead.
- The second set was the tightest one of the night as it saw a combined five ties and two lead changes.
- Once again, the away team was out in front 5-2 early, but the hosts then began to go to work.
- After a 11-5 run by Truman, that pulled the Bulldogs in front by three, 13-10.
- Quincy was able to knot up the score at 14-14, however, it was never able to take the lead.
- Just like the first two sets, the Hawks were ahead to start the third, and this time it was by four, 6-2.
- A 5-1 run by Truman deadlocked things at 7-7, but Quincy didn't give up the lead just like that and was up 11-9.
- The Bulldogs proceeded to rattle off 16 of the final 22 points to win the set and the match in 3-0 fashion.
- Truman has now won six of its last seven overall and five of its last six in GLVC play.
Next up, Truman travels to William Jewell on Friday (7 p.m.) and No. 23 Rockhurst on Saturday (3 p.m.). The first time around, the Bulldogs defeated the Cardinals in straight sets, but fell to the Hawks in three.
