Patriots rally to trip Eutectics; ladies then swept by Bobcats

It was a tough one to stomach for the Eutectics in their opening match on the first day of play at the College of the Ozarks Classic in Point Lookout, Missouri. UHSP squared off against Baptist Bible at Keeter Gym to open their busy weekend and needed one more point to hold a match point in a marathon five-setter. That 14th point in the fifth set never came and the Patriots rallied from 13-12 down to score three straight and earn the five set victory. UHSP then matched up against Peru State and fell in three straight. The Eutectics are still looking for their first win of the season.

The opening set between the Purple and Gold and the BBC Patriots was tight throughout the opening 20 points. In fact, a 5-0 run by the Pats put them in front 8-5. Multi-point runs by Baptist Bible were an issue for the Eutectics in the opening set. UHSP tried to withstand another 5-0 stretch and a pair of 4-0 stints, but the Patriots claimed the set on the final of those runs to turn a 21-15 lead into a 25-15 set win. Of the 15 points in the set for UHSP, the Eutectics were gifted 11 of those points on Patriot errors. Hanna Burch had a pair of kills, Amber Loo had another and Jenna Brinson had an ace.

The second set had Macy Hendrix all over it. The junior out of Malden, Mo. had four kills and an ace as the offense clicked a little more for UHSP as they totaled nine kills in the set. The Patriots had 10 kills but also 15 hitting errors as UHSP won the set 25-22 on a kill from Brinson. Set three mimicked the one before it: tight, little separation and more from Hendrix. The set featured seven lead changes and three more kills from Hendrix, but this time UHSP got production up front from others to go along with Hendrix. Burch added two more kills, Loo had three and Darlene Zediker had a pair late, including the first of which gave UHSP the lead for good at 20-19 as the Euts took the third set, 25-22.

The fourth set was all even at 11 apiece after a trio of early kills from Zediker and kill each from Burch, Loo and Sumanpreet Kaur. Baptist Bible reverted back to their hitting errors as three miscues coupled with attack points from Zediker and Loo gave the visitors from St. Louis five straight points and a 16-11 advantage. The Eutectics were closing in on their first win of the year and were nine points away. It was still an 18-15 lead after BBC scored four of the next six points. The Patriots then rattled off six consecutive on four kills and a pair of UHSP errors to grab a 21-18 lead. The final kill from Hendrix was the only point the Eutectics scored after that as Ella Sims put away three kills in a set clinching 4-0 BBC run to win it 25-19 and force a deciding fifth set.

Early in the fifth, Baptist Bible scored on three straight aces before a service error put the Pats up 6-3. The Eutectics showed incredible fight in a set they easily could have mailed in, given the way the fourth set got away. But a pair of kills each from Loo and Burch and slew of Patriot errors and things were all knotted at 12-12. Sarah Purcell mishit a ball for the Patriots that put UHSP up 13-12 and two away from a win. But Purcell rebounded on the ensuing point to square things at 13-all with a kill and the Patriots got back-to-back aces to seal the win 25-15, 22-25, 22-25, 25-19, 15-13.

Amber Loo led the way with 10 kills for UHSP while Hanna Burch had nine and Macy Hendrix and Darlene Zediker each had eight. Josie Barrand had 23 digs while Sydney Smith added 17 more. Summer Kenney led all attackers with 21 kills to lead Baptist Bible, and Rylea King and Abbi Street each had 29 digs. Madelyn Elsten added 28 assists for the Patriots.

A few hours later, it was the second match of the day for the University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy as they played the Peru State Bobcats. The opening set saw the Cats notch 10 kills and a pair of 6-0 runs while UHSP had more errors than kills at 6-4. PSC took the opener, 25-17. The Eutectics used a 4-0 spurt to take an 8-6 lead in the second. A sequence of winning five out of six points gave UHSP the lead at 15-10. The Euts were sitting pretty in the second set at 24-19 and were poised to level the match at a set apiece. But Peru State rattled off five consecutive points on five straight kills to tie the set at 24-24. Macy Hendrix put the Purple and Gold on set point with a kill, but Kennedy Miller and Erison Vonderschmidt answered for PSC to give the Bobcats at 26-25 advantage. Vonderschmidt committed an error to make it 26-26, but Shealie Wiebers put a ball away followed by an error by the Eutectics as Peru State stole the second set, 28-26. Trying to regroup in the third, Amber Loo had a pair of kills early as the set was 5-5. PSC scored five of the next six and later went on a 6-0 stretch to claim a 19-10 advantage. USHP finished the day still in search of their first win as Peru State defeated the Eutectics, 25-17, 28-26, 25-16.

The Bobcats had 43 kills to 19 for UHSP. Amber Loo led the Euts with five kills while Josie Barrand added nine more digs in this match. Jenna Brinson had 43 assists over the two matches, easily quarterbacking the Eutectic offense. Keiley Hein and Shealie Wiebers led the Bobcats with nine kills each. Rylee Hellbusch had 16 assists for PSC. The Eutectics have another twinbill on Saturday as they face the host College of the Ozarks at noon and also Mid-America Christian at 2p.