Box Score (LEBANON, Ill., Oct. 26)—The McKendree University volleyball team won a marathon five-set match Friday at home against the University of Wisconsin-Parkside. The Bearcats and Rangers battled through five sets, with McKendree taking the contest three sets to two. The Bearcats won by scores of 28-30, 25-23, 25-17, 18-25 and 16-14.
 
The victory was the third consecutive triumph for the Bearcats, who improve to 12-13 overall. More importantly, McKendree moves to the .500 mark for the first time as members of the Great Lakes Valley Conference at 6-6. The Bearcats also avenged a four-set loss to Wisconsin-Parkside back on Sept. 29 in Kenosha, Wis.
 
Junior setter Abby Hanger (Belleville, IL/Belleville West) (Belleville, Ill./Belleville West) became just the third player in McKendree volleyball history to reach the 1,000-assist mark for a season. Hanger was credited with 54 assists against the Rangers, pushing her season total to 1,013 assists in 2012. She joins Allison DeGroot (1,683 in 2006) Lyndsey Hillyard (1,656 in 2004) as the only Bearcat players to top 1,000 assists in a single season.
 
Junior outside hitter Maureen Nesbit (Belleville, IL/Althoff Catholic) put down a team-high 24 kills, while freshman outside hitter Hannah Wessel (Waterloo, IL/Gibault Catholic) helped out with 14 attacks. Freshman middle hitter Lauren Apetz (Glenwood, FL/DeLand) collected 12 kills and added three assisted blocks in the victory for McKendree.
 
McKendree rallied from a four-point deficit late in the first set to tie the match at 24-24. The teams went back and forth until Wisconsin-Parkside (17-7, 6-6 GLVC) pulled away for a 30-28 win to grab the set. The Bearcats responded by taking the next two sets to forge a 2-1 lead. The Rangers battled back with a convincing 25-17 win in the fourth set for force a winner-take-all fifth set.
 
In that last set, McKendree used an early 6-1 run to grab a 7-3 lead. Nesbit and Apetz each had two kills during the stretch. Wisconsin-Parkside battled back to take an 11-10 lead before a kill by Nesbit and an attack error from the Rangers helped the Bearcats regain a 12-11 advantage. The teams traded points before another attack error pushed McKendree back in front 15-14. Nesbit finished off the long night with a kill to give the Bearcats the victory.
 
McKendree will look to extend its winning streak Saturday at home against Lewis University. First serve is set for 3 p.m. in Lebanon.