ST. LOUIS—As expected, it was a closely-contested affair between Bellarmine and No. 25 Missouri-St. Louis, but the host Tritons pulled away in the fourth set to defeat the Knights 25-22, 23-25, 25-21, 25-17 in a Great Lakes Valley Conference match on Saturday in the Mark Twain Building.
 
The teams entered today's match in a four-way tie for third in the conference, and the play indicated how evenly matched the team were. The combatants battled to late-game ties in the first two sets, but each team used late 3-0 runs to earn victories. Game number three also was tight throughout with UMSL finally getting a little separation at 20-16. However, Bellarmine reeled off three in a row to slice its deficit to just one before the Tritons recovered to win five of the next seven points to close out the set.
 
In the fourth, UMSL jumped out to a commanding 10-4 lead, and the Knights couldn't recover.  The Tritons went on to expand their cushion to 12 points at 23-11 before the Knights mounted a late rally. Bellarmine closed to within seven, but the Tritons went on to take the victory 25-17.
 
Bellarmine freshman Jayme Scott rang up 21 kills to lead all hitters and extend her streak with 20 or more kills to four.  Defensively, Karleigh Wilson posted a career-high 28 digs for match-high honors.  Also with big night for the Knights was Ashley Price, who recorded 14 kills with a .344 hitting percentage.
 
Charlotte Richards paced the Triton attack with 19 kills while Selena Nolte added 15.
 
Bellarmine dips to 17-9, 7-4 GLVC while UMSL improves to 23-3, 8-3 GLVC.
 
The Knights are back on the road next week, facing William Jewell and Rockhurst on Friday and Saturday.
 
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BOX SCORE (HTM)