Brinson ties record, but Griffins sweep UHSP

(Photo courtesy of Makenzie Ness)

ST. LOUIS, MO – The University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy had hopes of snapping an eight-match losing skid as they welcomed a familiar cross-town neighbor to town in Fontbonne University. The Eutectics will have to wait until their next match for another chance to end their streak as the Griffins swept UHSP, 25-12, 25-21, 25-12. The lone bright spot on the night saw UHSP setter Jenna Brinson move into second-place on the career assist list in Eutectics history.

Set number one went Fontbonne's way start to finish. The Griffins took the first four points and seven of the first nine to lead 7-2. Of the home club's next four points, three of them came on FBU errors coupled with a Tera Schumacher kill as they cut the lead to 10-6. That was as close as UHSP would get in the set as Fontbonne went on a 9-1 run to open things up to a 19-7 advantage. The Eutectics had five kills in the set to six hitting errors while the Griffins notched 16 kills to only three errors for an incredible match-best .481 hitting percentage.

The Eutectics proved to be much more competitive in the second set and more consistent with the offense. Amber Loo had a pair of early kills, Jenna Brinson added a kill and a service ace as UHSP assembled a 9-4 lead. But it was another mid-set lengthy run that proved to be the turning point. This time Fontbonne would score six straight followed by a pair of mini four-point runs as the Griffins put things in their favor, 19-13. UHSP got late-set kills from Sophia Michaud and Hannah Kynaston but to nail avail as the road club took a two sets to none lead. UHSP would register eight kills in the set to only four hitting errors.

The third set started no better for the Eutectics as it was 5-1 then 11-4 in a flash in favor of the Griffins. The Euts used a Kynaston kill and a Schumacher ace sandwiched around an FBU hitting error to trim the gap to 11-7. But again, lengthy scoring runs allowed Fontbonne to pull away as they would score five straight and later four in a row to lead 23-11 before closing it out.

Jenna Brinson entered the night needing 15 assists to pull into a second-place tie on the all-time career assist list in UHSP history. She would finish right at 15 assists on the evening to move into a share for second with Kacie Kinnikin at 1,988. Kaitlyn LaBoube holds the all-time UHSP record for career assists with 2,869. For the match, Fontbonne swung an impressive .295 for the night while the Eutectics finished with one more hitting error than kills for an -.011 attack percentage. Sumanpreet Kaur and Hannah Kynaston led UHSP with four kills each while Fontbonne's leading kill-getter for the season Kristen Kaempfe piled up 16. Riley Watson had 43 assists for the road club. Macy Hendrix paced the UHSP defense with 14 digs.

The Griffins beat the Eutectics for the fifth straight meeting and are now 4-5 against Fontbonne in the last nine meetings. The Purple and Gold have eight matches left in their regular season including a rematch with the Griffins on the road on Friday, October 25. Other than that, it will be seven games in American Midwest Conference play for UHSP (3-23, 0-4 AMC) and next up they will play at William Woods (18-10, 2-2 AMC) on Tuesday at 6:00pm. The Owls are idle until that meeting.