(LEBANON, Ill., Nov. 4)—The McKendree College volleyball team closed out its 2006 regular season with a win Saturday at home against William Woods University. The Bearcats dropped the first game to the Owls before taking the final three games and the victory. Scores from the match were 26-30, 30-20, 30-13 and 30-20.

 

McKendree will take a 25-15 overall record into next week’s American Midwest Conference Tournament. The Bearcats will be the No. 3 seed based on their 9-5 record in league play. McKendree will play host to William Woods on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the Melvin Price Convocation Center.

 

Prior to Saturday’s match, McKendree honored its four senior players: outside hitter Codi Dempster (Poplar Bluff, Mo./Twin Rivers) (Poplar Bluff, Mo./Twin Rivers), right-side hitter Colleen Crider (Mt. Vernon, Mo./Mt. Vernon) (Mt. Vernon, Mo./Mt. Vernon), libero Marcy Gibson (Carbondale, Ill./Salem) (Salem, Ill./Salem) and setter Nicole Taylor (Brentwood, Mo./Brentwood) (Brentwood, Mo./Brentwood). Dempster helped lead the way for McKendree with a team-leading 19 kills along with 12 digs. With the 19 kills, Dempster moved into fifth place on the Bearcats’ all-time list with 773 career kills. Crider chipped in with nine kills, while Gibson handled 12 digs for the Bearcats.

 

Freshman Lisa Witte (St. Charles, Mo./St. Charles) (St. Charles, Mo./St. Charles) added 12 kills in the effort for McKendree, and junior setter Allison DeGroot (Highland, Ill./Highland) (Highland, Ill./Highland) handed out 42 assists.

 

Nicolette Schauermann led William Woods (12-17, 5-9 AMC) with seven kills.