ST. LOUIS, MO --- The University of Illinois Springfield volleyball team beat Maryville 3-0 to extend its winning streak to six matches, the best mark in the Great Lakes Valley Conference, as well as set a UIS Division II record. The Prairie Stars (17-8, 8-4) beat the Saints (2-24, 1-12) in straight sets, 25-22, 25-14, 25-16 behind a 14-kill performance from Taylor Bauer.

In the opening set, the Saints took an early lead and extended that lead to as much as 11-7, and then after the Prairie Stars cut the deficit to just one at 11-12, the Saints scored five of the next six points to take a 16-11 lead.

UIS rallied back after trailing 18-14 and scored 11 of the final 15 points, including a run of five in a row to take a 24-21 lead before the Saints avoided a set point. Alyssa Hasler closed out the set with a kill to take a 1-0 lead.

The Prairie Stars used a 8-0 run in the second set to take a 15-6 lead and take control of the set, closing out the second with five of the final six points.

It was much of the same in the third as the Prairie Stars jumped out to a small lead before a 4-0 run opened it up at 18-12 and then UIS closed out the match with the final four points.

Bauer led the Prairie Stars with 14 kills opposite just four errors, while Hasler and Alli Splitt combined for 14 kills and two errors. Hasler added five total bocks to her conference leading number while Tiffany Wentworth totaled 37 assists.

The Prairie Stars are one and a half games up on Missouri-St. Louis in the division and sit in fifth place overall in the GLVC. The top-eight teams qualify for the conference tournament, something UIS has never accomplished in the Division II era.

During the six-match winning streak, UIS has dropped only one set to Lake Erie, in the match that started the streak. It was also the first set of that match, so since then, UIS has won 18 consecutive sets.

The Prairie Stars will be back in action on Tuesday to face divisional opponent, Quincy University. This match will continue a four-match road swing for UIS, before coming back home to face Maryville on November 7^th.