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ST. LOUIS - On the volleyball court, Northern Kentucky University has always owned Missouri-St. Louis. It's been an automatic victory for the Norse over the years, to the tune of a 17-0 advantage for NKU in the all-time series against the Riverwomen. Given the fact Missouri-St. Louis brought a 6-11 overall record into Saturday's contest with NKU, there was little reason to believe the Norse would not make it 18 straight victories against the Riverwomen. NKU, after all, had won four consecutive matches and hoped to make it five going into next Friday night's showdown against nationally ranked Southern Illinois at Edwardsville. But, as Missouri-St. Louis demonstrated Saturday, history and current winning streaks mean nothing when two teams take the court. The Riverwomen also showed upsets still happen in college volleyball. Missouri-St. Louis shocked NKU in three games, 30-21, 30-23, 30-27, at McCluer South-Berkeley High School. The Riverwomen held the Norse to just a .145 hitting percentage and took advantage of NKU's 13 service errors to post the victory. Missouri-St. Louis improved to 7-11 overall, 4-4 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. NKU dropped to 12-9 overall, 6-3 in the GLVC. Erin Denton and Christy Trame each had nine kills to lead the Riverwomen, who built a 16-10 lead in the third game and withstood an NKU rally to pull out the win. The Norse closed within a point at 22-21 in the third game, but Missouri-St. Louis responded with three straight points and closed out the match with an 8-6 run. Liz Holmes and Kristina Eisenmenger each recorded 10 kills for NKU, and Holmes led the Norse defense with 11 digs. Norse setter Andrea Lanham finished with 32 assists and four service aces, while teammate Tristen Dye added eight kills and 10 digs. Holmes, a junior middle hitter, now has 1,099 career kills at NKU. She needs 18 kills to move into ninth place on the Norse's all-time career list. The Norse return home Friday night to meet GLVC-leading SIUE in Regents Hall. |
