ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- The women's volleyball team faced a talented No. 19 Washington-St. Louis squad and fell in three sets as they played their final regular season match. The set scores were 25-18, 26-24, 25-17.
Washington jumped out to an early lead in the first set, taking the first five points. Greenville managed to tie the first set at 15-all with three straight blocks by Anna Finch and combinations of Abby Freeman and Allyson Mitchell. The Bears took the next six points to go up 21-15 and establish control of the set.
The Panthers fell behnd in the second set by as many as four points on a couple of occasions and came up with answers for Washington's attack as Greenville eventually took a one point lead at 17-16. The teams traded points, eventually reaching 24-all, before Washington closed the second set with two points.
Greenville kept the final set tight at 8-all, but Washington went on a five point stretch to grab a 13-8 advantage and parlayed that into a final set victory by eight points.
The Bears outhit the Panthers in the match as Greenville's errors caused them to finish with a hitting percentage of negative .028.
Mitchell paced Greenville with eight and a half points on six kills, three block assists, and a service ace.
Sarah Watts and Freeman had four kills each, and Sarah Weiland posted 15 digs and two service aces.
Finch provided a solid defensive effort with two solo blocks and six block assists.
The Panthers (24-7) will play at approximately 4 p.m. on Saturday in the SLIAC tournament against the loser of Wednesday's match up between Webster and Westminster. The winner of the Wednesday match will host the full tournament on Saturday. Greenville is chasing their third straight SLIAC tournament championship and fourth appearance in the NCAA Division III national tournament.