Volleyball Overpowers Fontbonne, Wins 3-0

The Westminster volleyball team overpowered Fontbonne in the Tuesday night match-up. The Blue Jays took the 3-0 conference win, improving their St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) record to 6-4.

“We started out slow. They (Fontbonne) came out ready to play,” commented Head Coach Curtis Madson. “We did a great job of grinding it out though.”

The Fontb0nne Griffins quickly took a 9-2 lead of the Westminster Blue Jays in set one, but the Blue Jays rallied back into the game and tied it up at 12-12. The lead bounced back-and-forth, but the Blue Jays went on a 7-0 run to put them up 23-19. A kill by Fontbonne gave them the serve with the Blue Jays up 24-23. A kill by sophomore Lexi Collier with an assist from freshman setter Kayla Reeg put an end to set one, 25-23.

Set two was neck-and-neck throughout with the lead changing multiple times. The Blue Jays, down 14-15, went on a 5-0 run to give them a 19-15 lead. The Griffins stuck with the Blue Jays and it came down to a 23-23 tie before freshman Amanda Kiso and senior Caroline Abraham put down two kills to end the set, 25-23.

The Blue Jays had control of set three. After holding the lead for the first 13 points, Fontbonne rallied to tie the game 14-14. Two kills from Collier and one from freshman Riley Lawrence gave the Blue Jays a 18-15 lead, but the Griffins quickly rallied to steal the lead for the first time (19-18). After a Blue Jay timeout, Westminster went on a 7-0 run to take the set 25-19 and win the match.

Fontbonne fought hard to stay in it, but

Lawrence tallied 12 kills for the night, followed by Kiso and Collier with 9 apiece. Kiso marked a .533 hitting percentage and a .600 kill percentage during the match. Collier assisted with 3 blocks along with a block solo. Reeg completed 37 assists and sophomore Caroline Will led the team with 14 digs.

The Blue Jays host Eureka College Saturday at 11:00 a.m. The Blue Jays will be celebrating their Homecoming Weekend, as well as hosting club inductions for four categories:  1,000 Kill Club, 2,500 Assist Club, 1,500 Dig Club and 100 Ace Club.