AURORA, Ill. - The Wayne State University volleyball team (12-6) opened the GLIAC/GLVC Crossover with a 3-1 loss to the University of Missouri-St. Louis (7-12) on Friday afternoon at the Great Lakes Center.

Wayne State and UMSL were meeting in the Crossover for the second straight year, and the Tritons were able to avenge last year's five-set loss by scores of 25-19, 22-25, 25-23, 25-18.

Candice Ottey (Ajax, Ont.) hit .481 with 15 kills and five blocks.  Madie Kent (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich./Grosse Pointe North) finished with 16 kills and 10 digs for her seventh double-double of the season.

The Warriors as a team hit .257 compared to the Tritons' .239 hitting percentage, but the bulk of WSU's offense came in the first two sets.  Wayne State hit .397 over the first two and just .143 in the second two sets.

Cydney Biessel (Ruby, Mich./Yale) collected 51 assists for her second 50-plus performance in the last three matches, and Lindsey Graciak (Westland, Mich./Livonia Churchill) led all players with 28 digs.  Kelsey Bonewits (Griffith, Ind.) totaled eight blocks and six kills.

The match had 29 tie scores and 11 lead changes.  Trailing for most of the opening set, the Warriors went on a 5-1 run to tie it at 16-16 before the Tritons nabbed nine of the final 12 points.

Kent and Kristen Bulkiewicz (LaSalle, Ont./Sandwich) each had five kills as Wayne State won the second set, 25-22.  The teams exchanged the lead seven times and were tied on 14 occasions in the third, which ultimately went in favor of UMSL, 25-23.

Wayne State's last lead of the match was at 12-11 in the fourth before UMSL went on an 11-3 run.

Bulkiewicz and Essence Jackson-Jones (Muskegon, Mich.) combined for 19 kills and had three blocks apiece.

UMSL's Liz Jaeger led all players with 20 kills.

Wayne State will face Southern Indiana on Friday night at 6:30 p.m. ET.