KIRKSVILLE, Mo. - The Truman State University volleyball team's red-hot run continued on Saturday afternoon in Pershing Arena. The Bulldogs swept Maryville and pushed their winning streak to seven for the first time since 2014 with set scores of 25-15, 25-14 and 25-19.

Truman (14-3, 6-2 GLVC) entered the weekend meeting with Maryville (4-13, 0-9 GLVC) as a much better team on paper and played like it on the court. With the Bulldogs next home match nearly three weeks away, they improved to 5-0 inside the friendly confines and have dropped just one set in those five outings.

In the absence of kills leader, Ellie Kaat, the freshman, Morgan Smith, made her second career start, but first at home. Smith was the lone Bulldog with 10+ kills as she sent home 10 of them for a hitting percentage of .194. After a dominant first set for Truman, fellow freshman, Elise Hardesty (pictured) took over for Savvy Hughes at setter and finished with a personal best 24 assists (21 more than previous best) to go with two kills, a block assist and four digs. The Purple and White were also led by Lauren Wacker (five service aces and 17 digs) and Ambria Whitlock (three blocks).

Truman opened the first set with a fury that included nine of the first 10 points and 14 of the first 18. The Bulldogs took all the momentum from the get-go and their lead was never smaller than six (15-9) and grew to as big as 12 (24-12) after that.

All five of the second set's ties came in the first 16 points scored and once it was 8-8, the home team took over. That 16th point came in the midst of a 12-1 run for Truman that catapulted its lead to 10, 19-9. That was all the Bulldogs needed to cruise to the set victory as they took a 2-0 match advantage.

The third period was the most closely contested with nine of the match's 15 ties and three of its seven lead changes. Aside from an 8-6 Maryville lead, neither team would be up by that many until Truman used a 4-0 run to lead by three, 16-13. From that point until the end of the set, the Saints were never closer than two (16-14) as the Bulldogs sealed the set/match.

Next up, Truman will begin a six-match road trip with Quincy on Tuesday and first serve is set for 7 p.m.

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