Tide-turning third set costs QU women’s volleyball team chance to play for region championship

QUINCY — The lead, the energy and an enthusiastic crowd.

The Quincy University women’s volleyball team had everything it seemed to want and need to dispatch Missouri-St. Louis midway through the third set of Friday night’s NCAA Division II Midwest Regional semifinal.

Yet, it turned out that wasn’t enough.

The Hawks lacked the finishing touch the Tritons possessed.

Fifth-seeded UMSL rallied from a 16-9 deficit in the third set to win 27-25 and allowed the momentum to carry it through to the end, knocking off the top-seeded Hawks with a 25-15, 18-25, 27-25, 25-14 victory at Pepsi Arena.

“I don’t think we ever backed down,” Quincy senior outside hitter Mattison Norris said after the Hawks finished their season with a 28-3 record. “I can confidently say I trusted every one of my teammates. We expected to get it done. Unfortunately, UMSL came out on top and they played a very good game.”

For that reason, the Tritons (23-6) will face third-seeded Ferris State (26-9)  at 7:30 p.m. Saturday for the region championship and a berth in the Elite Eight. Ferris State outlasted Hillsdale in the other semifinal, winning 25-27, 25-23, 27-25, 25-21.

“I hope they take it far and represent the GLVC well,” QU senior defensive specialist Kailey Reckers said of UMSL.

The Tritons earned that opportunity by overcoming their own miscues and capitalizing on the Hawks’ mistakes. Never was that more evident than in the third set.

Tied at one set apiece, Quincy built what seemed like a commanding 16-9 lead in the third set as UMSL committed four serving errors. But the Hawks committed two attack errors, a service error and a bad set during a stretch in which the Tritons won nine of 11 points and tied the set at 18.

“At the beginning, we were playing a little messy,” UMSL libero Kylie Adams said. “We missed a lot of serves. We kind of flipped a switch and started being a lot cleaner on our side. I thought we did a nice job of getting touches with our block, and it helped our defense make more plays.”

The Hawks regrouped enough to pull ahead 24-23, but a kill by the Tritons’ Lexie Rang staved off set point and UMSL won four of the final five points to win the set.

Having overcome losing the first set, the Hawks expected to do it again.

“It’s obvious our team wants it,” said senior outside hitter Emily Rehagen, who finished with 11 kills and 17 digs. “We knew that we didn’t come out and perform in the first set like we wanted to. We got our heads together and were like, ‘OK, we’re here for a reason. … So let’s get going.’ We got our gears going.

“It was the same thing going into the fourth set.”

However, the Tritons seized and never relinquished the momentum.

UMSL scored six of the first seven points of the fourth set and ultimately led 11-2 before a service error was its first glitch. By then, the strong start to the set had buried Quincy.

“It was everything,” Adams said.

Said UMSL setter Caitlin Bishop, “It was huge.”

Try as the Hawks might, they couldn’t stem the tide.

“It was a constant conversation,” said Norris, who had 12 kills and nine digs. “We were all looking at each other and we knew we had it, we knew we could do this. We’ve fought all year. Nothing has been given to us, ever. So fighting was something we were used to.

“We continued to fight every ball. … We never once stopped fighting. It wasn’t about fighting or giving up because we continued to fight, but they were the better team tonight.”

That fight is why UMSL never got comfortable.

“I wasn’t going to be happy until we got to 25 and were ahead by two,” UMSL coach Ryan Young said.