Eureka Falls to Fontbonne in Straight Sets

ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The Eureka women's volleyball team dropped its St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opener against Fontbonne in three sets on Friday evening.

The Red Devils were right there with the Griffins in the first set, but the home team edged EC 25-23 and then controlled the next two sets to notch the sweep. The final scores were 25-23, 25-13, 25-12.

Eureka's Alexis Charlton (Eureka, Ill./Eureka) tallied a team-high eight kills, while Daizjah Shannon (East St. Louis, Mo./Cahokia/Lincoln) followed with seven. Regan Reed (Flanagan, Ill./Flanagan-Cornell) and Brooklyn Shell (Evansville, Ind./Mount Vernon) each had a team-high 16 digs.

Setters Sara Hart (Secor, Ill./Eureka) and Hope McGinnes (Mackinaw, Ill./Deer Creek-Mackinaw/Lincoln) recorded 12 assists and 10 digs and 11 assists and seven digs, respectively.

The Red Devils hit a team-high .209 and posted a team-high 13 kills in the first set.

Eureka had the upper hand early on and held a three-point lead at 13-10. However, after a Fontbonne timeout, the Griffins claimed four of the next five points as part of an 8-2 run that made it 18-15. The maroon and gold recovered to keep it competitive until the end.

Trailing 20-17, the visitors put together a 5-2 run. Back-to-back kills by McGinnes and Frannie Heckman (Benson, Ill./Roanoke-Benson) tied the set at 22-22.

After another Fontbonne timeout, a kill by Charlton moved Eureka two points away from taking the set with a 23-22 advantage. However, the Griffins notched back-to-back kills to get to set point, and after a Eureka timeout, the set came to end with an EC attack error. From that point on, Fontbonne was in the driver's seat.

Eureka will look to bounce back on Saturday when the Red Devils (5-5, 0-1 SLIAC) take on Spalding (2-8, 1-0 SLIAC) at 12 p.m. and Westminster (9-6, 2-0 SLIAC) at 2 p.m. in a SLIAC triangular in Fulton, Missouri.