Janeir Harris scored a career-high 17 points in UMSL’s victory over Upper Iowa in the semifinals of the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament. UMSL wound up losing to Lincoln in the GLVC final but still secured an berth to the NCAA Division II Tournament for the fourth time in the past six years. (Photo by Micah H Manuel/UMSL Athletics)
Men’s Basketball
The University of Missouri–St. Louis men’s basketball program is headed back to the NCAA Division II Tournament for the fourth time in the past six years after receiving an at-large berth into the 64-team field. The Tritons received the invitation after finishing as the runner-up in last weekend’s Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament.
Coach Bob Sundvold‘s team knocked off Rockhurst and Upper Iowa in successive overtime games at Lindenwood’s Hyland Arena to reach the championship game – also for the fourth time in the past six years – but lost to Lincoln 58-51 on Sunday afternoon as the Blue Tigers claimed their first GLVC title.
The disappointment of that defeat didn’t linger too long when the NCAA field was revealed on Sunday night. UMSL (19-11) secured the No. 4 seed in the Midwest Regional and will take on fifth-seeded Ferris State (25-8) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the University of Illinois Springfield’s Recreation and Athletic Center. The Tritons head into the NCAA Tournament winners nine of their last 10 games – the lone loss coming against Lincoln.
They are a far cry from the team that opened the season 0-5, with all the losses by double digits. UMSL went 17-5 over the remainder of the regular season, including 15-5 in GLVC play. The Tritons continued their surge with strong overtime performances against Rockhurst and Upper Iowa. They outscored the Hawks 10-3 in the extra period of a 77-70 victory on Thursday and had a 16-9 edge in the overtime of an 87-80 victory on Saturday. Emanuel Prospere II scored 26 points, and Matt Enright added 22 in Thursday’s victory. Enright scored 22 points to pace five UMSL players in double figures on Saturday. Janeir Harris finished with a career-high 17 points. Troy Glover II finished with 12 points, 12 rebounds and four blocked shots.
Enright finished with a team-high 14 points but shot 4 for 14 from the field against the Blue Tigers. The Tritons shot only 7 for 21 from the field and were outscored 29-22 in the second half.
Ferris State reached the NCAA Division Tournament with an at-large berth from the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Ferris State and UMSL last met in the NCAA Tournament in the Midwest Regional semifinals in 2023.
The other Midwest Regional qualifiers were No. 1 seed Missouri S&T, No. 2 seed Lake Superior State, No. 3 seed Michigan Tech, No. 6 seed Northern Michigan, No. 7 seed Lincoln and No. 8 seed Malone. The Midwest Regional semifinals will be held on Sunday with the regional championship to be decided on March 18.
Women’s Basketball
The Tritons season came to an end after they got bounced from the GLVC Tournament with a 62-59 quarterfinal loss to fifth-seeded Maryville at Hyland Arena. UMSL got outscored 11-5 in the final quarter after rallying from a 41-37 halftime deficit to take a 54-51 lead heading into the last 10 minutes. The Tritons shot only 2 for 12 from the field during the final period. They had three chances to tied the game in the final minute, but Kate Rolfes missed three 3-pointers. Rolfes still finished as UMSL’s leading scorer with 12 points. Mara Rieder was the only other Triton in double figures, scoring 10 points off the bench. UMSL outshot Maryville 44.4% to 40.4%, but the Saints made three more 3-pointers. Maryville went on to knock off top-seeded Lewis 73-59 in the semifinals to advance to the championship game before falling to Quincy. The Tritons finished their season 19-9 and were 13-7 in GLVC play.
Baseball
UMSL split its GLVC-opening series against Missouri S&T, sweeping a doubleheader on Saturday but dropping one-run games to the Miners on Friday and Sunday in Rolla, Missouri. S&T scored once in the eighth and four more times in the ninth to pull out a 10-9 victory in Friday’s series opener. That spoiled a strong start by UMSL’s Zach Haygood, who yielded four runs in six innings and struck out seven. The Tritons bounced back with a commanding 8-0 victory in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader. Cade Grevengoed hit his second home run of the series and drove in four runs in the win, backing starter Bryce Nicolay, who struck out eight in seven shutout innings and improved to 4-2 on the season. Barrett Rose drove in a pair of runs in the second game, a 4-1 UMSL victory. Dustin Hagens yielded two hits and one earned run while striking out eight in 5 2/3 innings. On Sunday, the Tritons raced out to an 8-3 lead midway through the sixth inning but gave up four runs in both the sixth and the seventh inning of an 11-10 loss. Grevengoed and Rose each drove in two runs. UMSL (12-7, 2-2 GLVC) will open a four-game series at Lincoln on Friday.
Softball
The Tritons opened their GLVC schedule by getting swept at home in doubleheaders against Southwest Baptist and Rockhurst. UMSL lost Saturday’s games against the Bearcats 5-3 and 7-4, and it also lost to the Hawks 7-2 and 3-0 on Sunday. The Tritons had a 3-2 lead entering the seventh inning of Saturday’s opener but surrendered three runs a two-run single down the line by Angi Micone. They fell in eight innings in the second game after getting surrendering three runs in each of the last two frames, negating their own three-run rally in the bottom of the seventh. The Hawks outhit UMSL 20-10 in Sunday’s doubleheader, tagging Game 1 starter Ashley Ware for six runs in the first three innings and scoring three runs off Game 2 starter Ashley Borowitz in the sixth. Rylie Buchanan hit a pair of home runs against Southwest Baptist, giving her five on the seasons. The Tritons (7-10, 0-4 GLVC) will look to turn things around as they take to the road this week, playing a doubleheaders at Lincoln on Saturday and Missouri S&T on Sunday.
Men’s Golf
UMSL finished 10th in a 20-team field at last week’s Las Vegas Desert Classic, which it hosted at Boulder Creek Golf Club in Boulder City, Nevada. The 25th-ranked Tritons posted a combined score of 859, including a 274 in final round – the second-lowest score in the tournament. Four UMSL golfers posted rounds in the 60s during the final round with Trigg Lindahl carding a 67 and Leo Baudry, Dani Solavera and Benjamin Berger each shooting rounds of 69. Lindahl climbed into a tie for 19th in the tournament with a total of 213. Baudry tied for 30th with a total of 215, and Solavera tied for 41st with a total of 217. Baptiste Touchard of St. Mary’s in Texas, was the individual medalist with a 54-hole score of 204 that included three rounds in the 60s. Colorado Christian won the team title with a combined score of 836, eight shots ahead of Florida Southern. UMSL will next play in the Findlay Spring Invitational March 24-25 at Boone Trace Golf Club in Richmond, Kentucky.
Women’s Tennis
The Tritons dropped two out of three doubles matches Sunday against Purdue Northwest, but they dominated singles, sweeping the first four matches in a 4-1 dual meet victory. UMSL’s Hannah Tse beat Tamiya Lintz in straight sets 6-1, 6-3 in the No. 1 singles match. Aleksandra Lopez won 6-0, 6-3 over Haizea Lopez at No. 2. Anna Favoron pulled out a first-set tiebreaker 8-6 against Romance Debrielle at No. 3 before cruising 6-2 in the second set. Morgan Lint clinched the dual with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Elisoa Andriantefihasina at No. 4. The Nos. 5 and 6 matches weren’t completed. The Tritons (4-1) will next face Northwood on Wednesday at the UMSL Tennis Courts.
Men’s Tennis
UMSL lost two out of three doubles matches and each of the first three singles matches in a 4-0 dual meet loss to Purdue Northwest. The No. 3 doubles team of Alejandro Ley and Joan Garros picked up the Tritons’ lone win, a 6-1 result over Daniel Melero and Pedro Diaz. Tanin Ramnath and Percy Siercke each won the opening set in their singles matches at No. 2 and No. 3, respectively, before losing the next two. Ramnath fell to Samuel Dickson 2-6, 7-6 (2), 1-0 (8). Siercke, meanwhile, lost 1-6, 7-6 (2), 1-0 (7) to Melero. The last three singles matches weren’t completed. UMSL (3-3) will next play host to Northwood on Wednesday afternoon.
