Oh so close: Eutectics can't close it out against Hornets

ST. LOUIS, MO – Looking for their fourth win of the season, UHSP instead saw their losing skid reach four as they took a tough loss to stomach in a five-setter that went the way of visiting Harris-Stowe. The Eutectics fell behind two sets to none, but battled back to force a winner-take-all fifth after outscoring the Hornets 50-38 in sets three and four. The Eutectics never trailed in the fifth, until back-to-back service aces from Dejah Foster gave the Hornets the last two points of the match put the contest in the win column for Harris-Stowe.

GAME HIGHLIGHTS:

HARRIS-STOWE def. UHSP; 25-22, 25-21, 23-25, 15-25, 17-15

• Harris-Stowe grabbed an 8-3 lead in the opening set, but four straight by the home club including kills from Avanell Traylor and Sierra Aplanalp cut the deficit to one at 8-7. The set was tied six times after that, the deepest at 21-21. HSSU took four of the next five points to claim the set as they scored points on a pair of Kyla McReynolds aces and a pair of Eutectic hitting errors.
• UHSP took the first three points of the second set, but the Hornets grabbed the next six. The Eutectics managed to get the set tied at 12-12 thanks to a 6-0 run of their own. Traylor had the only two earned points in that six-point run on kills with the other four coming on HSSU hitting errors. The home club took an 18-16 lead after a 16-16 tie thanks to two Hornets errors, but Harris-Stowe scored six straight and nine of the next dozen to win the set, 25-21.
• A 22-22 stalemate in the third set was the 12^th tie of the set. Sumanpreet Kaur provided the Eutectics with that 22^nd point and also their 23^rd, both via kills set up Jenna Brinson. Ava Baggett delivered an ace to make it 24-22 and the Eutectics closed out the set winning it 25-23 on a service error by the Hornets.
• Tera Schumacher had three consecutive kills in the early stages of the fourth, Kaur and Traylor each added a pair of attack winners as UHSP built a 9-3 lead. Harris-Stowe responded will four straight kills to eventually close to 10-8. UHSP went on a set-altering 10-3 run to grab a 20-11 lead as Schumacher had three kills in that run along with one from Hannah Kynaston and a Brinson ace. The Eutectics cruised to a 25-15 set win as Joleigh Parker closed the set service the final two points, earning one on an ace. UHSP hit a match-high .324 in the set.
• Kaur was back at it in the fifth as she recorded three kills, Kynaston and Traylor each added one as UHSP led 10-8 into a HSSU timeout. Brinson set up Kaur and Kynaston again for kills as UHSP led 13-10 and looked like they were on their way to an upset win over HSSU. Back-to-back hitting errors made it a one-point set, but a Kynaston kill made it 14-12. McReynolds had a kill for the visitors after a service error by the Eutectics that tied the match at 14-14. Brinson assisted on a Traylor winner to give the Eutectics another match point, but McReynolds got another winner before the pair of Foster aces finished things off in favor of Harris-Stowe.
• The Eutectics had more kills (58-46), better hitting percentage (.152 to .127) and more digs (82-65) than Harris-Stowe. A .152 hitting percentage is the third-highest mark for the Eutectics in a loss this season.
• UHSP knew they would have to deal with a tough blocking team in the Hornets and HSSU recorded 10 blocks compared to three for the home club.
• The Eutectics had four players with double-digit kills as Schumacher and Traylor had a bakers-dozen each and Kaur and Kynaston each had 11. Kaur paced that quartet hitting at a 27.3% clip. Schumacher was the leading kill-getter for UHSP for the sixth time this season, for Traylor it was her second time.
• Trinity Edison led HSSU with 13 kills and had 40 attack chances, hitting .200 on the night. Kyla McReynolds was the only other Hornet with double-digit kills as she had 12.
• Jenna Brinson continues her season-long assault on the all-time UHSP career assist mark. She entered the night just shy of 200 off the record. She cut that by a quarter as she had 49 assists in the loss.
• Isa Smith had 22 assists for HSSU and Jayla Payne added ten. Dejah Foster had 25 digs in the win.
• Lindsey Ozier and MaKenzie Uribe each had 17 digs for UHSP and Joleigh Parker added 13. Uribe was celebrating just having surpassed 1,000 digs in her career as she crossed that plateau on Monday night at Mission. She now has 1,019 for her career. While Uribe is in her first season at UHSP and not all her digs have come as a Eutectic, her career number would be good for ninth place in UHSP history for career digs.
• UHSP had three match points in the contest at 14-12, 14-13 and 15-14 in the fifth set.
• Dating back to 1999, the Eutectics lead the recent series against the Hornets 39-13 and had a mini two-game win streak snapped.
• Four of the last five matches have gone to five sets between the Hornets and Eutectics. HSSU is 3-1 in those four matches.

NEXT UP:

The Eutectics (3-18, 3-6 AMC) are idle until a non-conference trip to Westminster a week from Wednesday as they face the Blue Jays (18-5, 4-1 SLIAC) at 6:00p. After that, UHSP will play five straight matches at home beginning with Cottey College on October 17 before closing the regular season with seven consecutive on the road.