ROMEOVILLE, Ill. - Facing its stiffest test so far this season, the Truman State University volleyball team traveled to No. 3-ranked Lewis on Saturday afternoon for a showdown in the Land of Lincoln. The Bulldogs won the third set, 25-23, to cut the match deficit to one, 2-1, but the Flyers sealed their 17th win in the fourth set.
Truman (7-11, 3-6 GLVC) became just the sixth team this season to win a set against Lewis (17-1, 9-0 GLVC) in 18 matches as the Flyers have dropped just nine of their 61 total sets in 2017 and their one loss was against then-No. 1 Concordia-St. Paul in four. Saturday, the Bulldogs' leaders included
Claire Viviano (seven kills),
Savvy Hughes (26 assists),
Meghan Gasper (14 digs), and
Ellie Kaat (three blocks).
How it happened...
- Truman got off to a great start with a pair of four-point advantages in the early going including 6-2 and 7-3.
- Lewis battled back, though, and eventually was able to tie things up at 11 with eight of the next 12 points.
- After three more ties, the final one being 14-14, the Flyers used a 6-1 run to go up by five on the Bulldogs, 20-15.
- After that, the away team was never closer than three, 21-18, and the hosts won the set by seven, 25-18.
- In the second set, Lewis controlled the momentum throughout thanks in part to an early 8-2 lead.
- After that, Truman cut the margin to five several times, but was never closer than that as the home team won it by 12, 25-13.
- For the third set, the Flyers tallied four of the first five points before the Bulldogs went off for 11 of the next 13 scores to go up six, 12-6.
- Lewis hung around, though, and after getting within one point six times, it took the lead at 23-22.
- Truman responded nicely with the next three points and a 25-23 set win.
- The fourth set was the tightest one of the day as it saw a combined five ties and four lead changes.
- After the hosts scored the first three points, their visitors scored five in a row to make it 5-3.
- Quite a bit of back and forth happened after that before Lewis used an 9-2 spurt to lead by six, 18-12.
- After that, Truman was never closer than five, lost the set 25-16 and the match in four.
Next up, the Bulldogs will compete in the 2017 Regional Crossover with three matches on Oct. 13-14 in Aurora, Ill.
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