The Westminster volleyball team defeated Webster University on Saturday in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) Semifinals, 3-1, to advance to the SLIAC Championship game. The Westminster Blue Jays faced Greenville, the other semifinal winner, in the Championship Saturday evening. The Blue Jays held a 2-0 advantage over the Greenville Panthers, but the Panthers won three straight to end the Blue Jays' season.
The Blue Jays took a 4-0 lead to start the Championship match with Greenville, but the Greenville Panthers managed to tie the set at 6-6 with two Blue Jay errors. The Panthers pulled out to a 19-14 lead, but a block by senior Lexi Collier sparked a six-point run for the Blue Jays. A kill by freshman Nikki Testerman gave the Blue Jays the 24-22 lead, and sophomore Hannah Marshall put down a kill to end the set with a 25-23 win.
Greenville started the second set with a 5-0 run, but a five-point run for the Blue Jays just points later gave them the 9-7 advantage. Greenville jumped out to a 19-13 lead, but a service error gave the serve back to the Blue Jays. With Marshall back serving, the Blue Jays scored seven straight to go up by one, 20-19. The lead bounced back-and-forth in the final points, but Greenville took the 24-22 lead, needing just one to win. Marshall put down two kills and Collier put down another to take the 25-24 lead and Greenville ended the set with an attack error to give the Blue Jays' the set two 26-24 win.
Set three started in the same fashion as set two as Greenville jumped out to a 13-6 lead over Westminster. Greenville went on to win the set 25-18.
The Blue Jays and Greenville stayed neck-and-neck throughout set four, but the Blue Jays took the 14-13 lead with two points coming from blocks by Collier and junior setter Kayla Reeg. Greenville found a four-point run to take the 22-16 lead, and the Blue Jays were unable to recover. A kill by Greenville ended the set 25-21, tying the match at 2-2.
The Blue Jays took the 1-0 lead with a kill from junior Amanda Kiso to start the decision set. The Blue Jays maintained the lead, but Greenville knotted it up three times before three consecutive kills by Marshall gave the Blue Jays the 8-5 advantage. The Blue Jays extended their lead to 12-7 before Greenville scored eight consecutive points to end the set with a 15-13 score.
Greenville will now advance to the NCAA Tournament with the conference's automatic bid.
Kiso hit .441 on the match with 16 kills and just one error. Marshall led the Blue Jays with 17 kills. Reeg tallied 50 assists while adding 18 digs. Freshman libero Bridget Ringwald recorded 19 digs.
Collier led the Blue Jay defense on the net with two block solos and two block assists. Reeg tallied four block assists and Kiso added three.
Earlier in the day, the Blue Jays won the semifinal game over Webster, 3-1. The Blue Jays lost the first set of the semifinals to Webster, 26-24. They won the second set with a 26-24 victory and went on to sweep Webster in the next two sets, 25-14 and 25-17, to win the semifinals.
Sophomore Hannah Marshall led the attack with 17 kills. Collier added 13 kills, hitting .500 on the match. Reeg recorded 45 assists and led the team with 22 digs.
At the net, Collier finished with three block assists and a block solo. Reeg had two block assists and a block solo.
The Blue Jays' season ends with a 22-12 record. They placed second in conference play with a 16-2 record.
