Drury University Athletics

ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Drury volleyball fought back from an early two-set deficit, but could not overcome a stout defensive effort from Maryville in a four-set loss to the Saints that ended the Panthers' six-match Great Lakes Valley Conference win streak Saturday afternoon at Moloney Arena.

Jacy Bray turned in her sixth consecutive double-double with a 48-assist, 28-dig effort, while Chaney Barth led the Drury offense with 16 kills.

But Maryville limited the Panthers to .123 hitting over the first two sets, as the Saints (13-13, 7-4 GLVC) outlasted DU in a 27-25 first-set decision, then took a 2-0 lead with a 25-21 win in the second.

Drury (19-7, 8-3 GLVC), which hadn't lost a conference match since a Sept. 26 home setback to Rockhurst, battled back to hit .351 as a team in a 25-14 third-set victory. But Maryville wiped out a seven-point deficit in the fourth with a 16-7 scoring run to close out the 25-23 win and the match.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Drury appeared to be poised for a decisive first-set win after building a 16-10 lead behind the play of Barth, who led the Panthers with five kills in the opening stanza.
• But the Saints answered by claiming 11 of the next 14 points to take the lead, then negated a Drury match point, taking the final three points of the set for a 27-25 win.
• The Panthers used a 10-3 run to seize a 14-12 lead in the second, before the Saints answered once again, this time with a 6-0 spurt.
• DU clawed its way back to within 22-21 thanks to a pair of key kills from Barth, but Maryville once again closed out the set with three straight points for a 2-0 advantage.
• In the third set, Drury fought off an early two-point deficit with a 14-5 run fueled by two more Barth kills and three Amelia White service aces for a 16-9 cushion.
• Barth added two more kills to help close out the decisive 25-14 victory, as Drury hit a blistering .351 as a team in the win.
• Drury built a five-point lead in the fourth with its 6-1 run that handed the visitors a 12-7 lead following back-to-back Emerson Grossman kills.
• The Panthers led by as many as seven (16-9) before the Saints claimed 13 of the next 18 points to reclaim the upper hand.
• DU evened the score at 21, but Maryville's Ella Domian recorded three straight kills for the Saints to help ice the victory (25-23).

NOTABLES

• Drury dropped to 15-8 all-time against Maryville with the setback.
• The match featured 24 ties and 14 lead changes.
• The Panthers dropped to 11-5 in road/neutral site contests this season with just their second loss in seven true road matches.
• Kim Quinit led Drury with a career-high 29 digs, while White added 15 digs to go along with her three aces and career-best four kills.
• Grossman finished with a season-high six kills and a .750 hitting percentage.
• Barth logged her third straight double-digit kill performance and matched a career high with four blocks.
• Freshman Gwen Kubik tallied 10 kills for her second straight double-digit kill total. 
• Bray logged her 16th double-double of the season -- and sixth in a row; the junior setter registered her seventh 40+ assist performance of the season.
• Bray eclipsed the 1,500-assist milestone for her collegiate career, hiking her three-year total to 1,504.

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