SPRINGFIELD, Mo.- The University of Missouri-St. Louis Tritons refused to go quietly against 12th ranked Drury on Friday night as the Panthers had to battle through five sets to prevail 3-2 (25-15, 25-21, 23-25, 24-26, 15-13) at Weiser Gym in Springfield.
 
Drury improved to 16-3, 9-1 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. UMSL dropped their seventh straight to fall to 7-12 and 3-8 in the conference.
 
After the Panthers won the opening set by 10, Drury pulled away late in the second to win by four, 25-21. The third set was even at 19-19 before the Tritons reeled off four straight points, then held off the Panthers to win 25-23. Drury had match-point in the fourth set leading 24-23, but UMSL responded with the next three points to force a fifth set.
 
Drury seized control of the fifth set early scoring the first four points and taking a 10-4 lead. The Tritons threatened, however, and the Panthers fought off a UMSL rally to win the decisive set 15-13.
 
"Going into the fifth set, we wanted to get to five points first," said Drury head coach Jenifer Bahner. "The other message we had for our team leading into that fifth set was that we've put in a lot of work early in the year to get to where we are, but now is the time when we needed to show people why we're a ranked team."
 
Bentley Mara led the Panthers with 19 kills while Emmalee Chrest added 16. Taylor Forth had 10 block assists for Drury tying her for the third most in a single game in program history. Earlier this year, Evan Larson had 11 block assists in a game against Rockhurst on Sept. 8. Kendra Sater added 55 assists in Friday's match.
 
Kylie Rudsinski led UMSL with 22 a game-high kills while Selena Nolte had 20.
 
Drury is at home again on Saturday, and they return to the O'Reilly Family Event Center as they host Maryville at 3 p.m.
 
 
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