Kansas City
South Dakota
UMKC Downs South Dakota For Second Straight Summit League Victory
10/22/2011 10:54:00 PM | Volleyball
(Kansas City, Mo.) - The UMKC volleyball team (8-15, 2-10) picked up its second straight Summit League win on Saturday night with a 3-2 win over South Dakota (12-13, 5-7) at the Swinney Recreation Center.
In the match for the 'Roos, four players finished with 10 or more kills, including seniors Kelsey Knoche (18), Elizabeth Beck (14) and Christiana McQuin (11) and junior Emily Lucas (12). Junior setter Ella Meier, meanwhile, finished with a career-high 43 assists setting up the UMKC offense.
In the first set, the 'Roos jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the match with a 25-18 win. UMKC fell behind 4-1 early before tying the set at seven, 14 points in. USD recaptured the lead at 12-10, but the Kangaroos scored nine of the next 11 points to build a 19-14 lead over the Coyotes. South Dakota pulled to within four late at 21-17, but UMKC scored four of the final five points for the win.
In the second set, South Dakota evened the match at one set apiece with a 25-20 win and quickly captured its first lead of the match with a 27-25 win in the third set.
UMKC then retied the match with a 25-19 win in the fourth set. The 'Roos jumped all over the Coyotes early, building a 13-4 lead on a Nicole Kerkman service ace. UMKC went on to extend its lead to as a many as 12 at 20-8 before USD rallied to cut the lead to four at 21-17. The Kangaroos, though, closed the set out on a 4-2 run, capped by a Knoche kill, to send the match to a fifth set.
In the deciding set, South Dakota again built an early lead, this time going ahead 5-1. A 6-2 UMKC run tied the match at seven and, after trading the next 11 points, the Kangaroos ended the match on a 3-0 run, including kills from Beck and Knoche and a Lucas block to take the match 3-2.
Defensively for UMKC, Kerkman led the squad with 27 digs, while Meier (16), Knoche (14) and senior Kara Thomas (14) all finished in double figures. At the net, Meier and senior Demetria Williams each had six blocks, while McQuin had five, including two solo blocks.
The Blue & Gold will be back in action again on Friday when they visit Summit League foe IUPUI for a 6 p.m. match in Indianapolis.
