Box Score

KANSAS CITY, Mo.  — The Western Illinois volleyball team fell to UMKC 3-0 Thursday night to drop to two matches below .500 in Summit League play.

The Fighting Leathernecks trailed most of the opening set, allowing the Kangaroos to go up by as much as six points before staging a comeback. Western fought back from a late 24-19 deficit with a 4-0 run only to have the Kangaroos end the set at 25-23.

The second set saw the Leathernecks take a three-point lead midway through the set at 14-11. UMKC came back to tie the match at 16-16 and the two teams traded blows until Western took its last lead at 20-19. The Kangaroos responded on a 3-0 run to take the lead for good, ultimately finishing with a 25-22 win.

In the third set, UMKC jumped out to an early advantage and used a 5-0 run midway through the set to go ahead 15-6. The Leathernecks mounted a 9-3 run of their own late in the set to close within 23-21, but the effort fell short as the hosts pulled out another 25-22 win to seal the match.

The Kangaroos held a 45-38 advantage in kills and out-blocked the Leathernecks 13-1. Western recorded more digs, however, with a 78-64 advantage.

Erin Frick led Western with a season-high 10 kills to go along with a .421 hitting percentage (2e, 19a) while Cait Egan and Emily Harrison both chipped in eight kills. Ellen Miller recorded 28 assists and 10 digs for her 11th double-double of the season while Brooke Sittleburg led the Leathernecks with 22 digs.

Western fell to 8-13 overall and 4-6 in Summit League play while UMKC improved to 8-12 overall with a 4-6 record in the conference. The Leathernecks finish up a five-match road trip at Southern Utah Saturday, Oct. 17.