Women's Volleyball Falls Against No. 21 WashU and Thomas More

ST. LOUIS, Mo.— The Fontbonne University women's volleyball team dropped two tough outings against No. 21-ranked Washington University (Mo.) in straight sets (5-25, 14-25, 9-25) and Thomas More in four (14-25, 12-25, 25-22, 14-25).

No. 21 Washington (Mo.) 3 Fontbonne University 0

The Griffins (4-13), dropped a tough one against the Bears out of Washington University out of the gate. The team totaled 14 kills and 16 errors for a negative hitting percentage of -.027.

Kristina Eason led with five kills, while Megan Schaller totaled a team-high five assists and both Megan McKenzie and Olivia Tallo collected five digs each.

WashU, meanwhile, limited themselves to just five errors, finishing with 55 kills and an astounding .527 hitting percentage. Leila King paced the way with a match-high 11 kills, while Alison Almgren-Bell handed out a match-high 20 assists. Defensively, Zoe Baxter contributed 14 digs.

In the first set, WashU opened up with a 10-1 lead on a kill from Ifeoma Ufondu. It was all Bears the rest of the way with them going on for the 25-5 win.

In the second set, after taking an 11-4 lead the Bears saw that lead trimmed down to 14-10 on a block assist from McKenzie and Emma Seiz. However, WashU pulled away by going on a 7-1 run and they held on for the 25-14 second set victory.

In the third, it was the Bears again taking the early lead at 10-4 on a kill from Jessica Almgren-Bell. They expanded it out to 20-7 and cruised to the 25-9 set and match win.

Thomas More 3 Fontbonne University 1

Against the Saints, Fontbonne concluded with 32 kills and a .105 hitting percentage. Olivia Tallo led with her seven kills and nine digs, while Victoria Curtice and Kristina Eason added six kills each. Schaller had another strong game with 17 assists, while Sarah Borgerding earned a team-high 12 digs.

Thomas More, meanwhile, totaled 56 kills for a .295 hitting percentage and they were also strong defensively with its 74 digs.

Jenna Mummert had herself a game with a match-high 19 kills and .548 hitting percentage. Setter Jenna Fessler handed out 30 assists, while Rachel Bronner led them on the defensive side of the net with 22 digs.

In the first set, it was back-and-forth play early on but it was the Saints grabbing the 10-8 lead on a kill from Gabbie Kayse. Later, an attack error from Thomas More cut the deficit down to 13-11 for FBU, however, they closed out the set on a 12-3 run to take the opener, 25-14.

In the second, Thomas More jumped out to a 9-3 lead on Carlee Lambert's kill. Fontbonne continued to battle though as a kill from Abby Grumich narrowed the lead down to 13-9.

A 6-0 run by the Saints gave them the breathing room back at 19-9 and they went on for the 25-12 win, taking a two sets to none advantage.

Things changed in favor of Fontbonne in the third. The Griffins opened up with a 10-8 lead on McKenzie's kill. The Saints went on to tie it at 16-all after an attack error, but on the ensuring play, FBU got a kill from Emma Seiz to own a 17-16 lead. FBU maintained its lead the rest of the way as they forced a fourth set after winning, 25-22.

It was the same story in the fourth set as both teams weren't willing to give way. A Saints attack error put the Griffins down just 9-8.

However, Thomas More went on a 8-0 run to take a 17-8 lead and that forced the Griffins coaching staff to take a timeout. The Griffins gave it their all but the deficit was too great as the Saints won the set and the match, 25-14.

Fontbonne will jump back into conference play tomorrow morning as they'll pay a visit to Iowa Wesleyan. They'll square off against Blackburn at 11 a.m., followed by a showdown against host Iowa Wesleyan at 1 p.m.

Fans make sure to stay updated on fontbonnegriffins.com tomorrow night for a full recap and score.