Eutectics fall at Westminster; skid reaches eight

FULTON, MO - Westminster College came away with a straight-set win over the University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy on Monday with a commanding 3-0 victory. The Bluejays won each set convincingly, with set scores of 25-16, 25-16, and 25-10, securing their third win of the season and improving their record to 3-11, while UHSP dropped to 2-13.

Lengthy runs in the middle of each set proved to be UHSP's undoing. The Eutectics led the opening set 7-4 when Westminster went on a stretch of scoring nine out of ten points to take a 13-8 lead. The Purple and Gold responded scoring four straight including a kill from Hannah Kynaston, an Amber Loo ace and a pair of Westminster errors, but the home club answered with five consecutive of their own to take an 18-12 lead. The Jays recorded 12 kills in the first set with a hitting percentage of .219. UHSP put up a fight, managing ten kills of their own, but their four attack errors lowered their hitting percentage to .182. Westminster's solid defensive play limited UHSP's opportunities to close the gap, and the Blue Jays took the set 25-16.

The second set saw similar action early as the set was tied at each of the first ten possible junctures. At 10-10, Westminster outscored UHSP 7-3 over the ensuing ten points to lead 17-13 as the Eutectics could only manage six more points overall after that 10-10 tie. Westminster registered 13 kills and five errors on 38 attempts, yielding a .211 hitting percentage while UHSP posted 11 kills but seven errors, leading to a hitting percentage of .108. Westminster won by the same 25-16 margin as the first set, putting them one set away from victory.

In the third set, UHSP fought hard to stay in it early. They got a pair of kills from Kynaston and singleton kills from Sophia Michaud and Sierra Aplanalp as they trailed 9-6. The Bluejays scored six straight to lead 15-6 and then took nine of the next 13 to wrap it up in straight sets. Westminster improved their attacking efficiency, tallying 11 kills with only two errors on 27 attempts for an impressive match-best .333 hitting percentage. UHSP had as many kills as hitting errors in the final set with seven kills and seven errors.

Tera Schumacher led the Eutectics with nine kills against just three errors for a .273 hitting percentage. Sophia Michaud and Hannah Kynaston added six kills each. Kylie Hasselbacher paced the Bluejays offense with 15 kills and a .310 attack percentage. Jenna Brinson recorded 20 of the Eutectics' 27 assists while Macy Hendrix had 15 digs.

It will be a busy Friday for the Eutectics (2-13) as they play at Avila for a tri-match at Mabee Fieldhouse in Kansas City, Mo. UHSP will try to snap their eight-match losing skid when they play Haskell Indian Nations as well as the host Eagles.