(St. Louis, MO., October 31)—The McKendree University volleyball team sits in first place in the Great Lakes Valley Conference East Division after a weekend sweep in St. Louis. The Bearcats topped Maryville University 3-1 on Saturday afternoon by scores of 25-27, 27-25, 25-18, and 25-21.
The win moves McKendree to 17-9 overall and 11-2 in the GLVC. The Bearcats return to action Nov. 6th in their final home stand of the year against Missouri S&T at the Harry M. Statham Sports Center.
Junior middle hitter
Sophie Fairman (Staunton, IL/Staunton) led Mckendree going 17-24 from the field with a robust .675 attack percentage. Sophomore outside hitter
Arela Williams (San Diego, CA/LaJolla Country Day) put down 16 kills, nine digs, and added three service aces. Sophomore middle blocker
Maria Rasch (Kenosha, WI/Westosha Central) finished with eight kills and six blocks, while senior right side
Taylor Voss (Breese, IL/Breese Central) and junior outside hitter
Hannah Wessel (Waterloo, IL/Gibault Catholic) tallied 7 kills each.
Junior setter
Aubry Dickmann (Edwardsville, IL/Edwardsville) tabbed a double-double with 34 assists and 11 digs. Freshman setter
Morgan Melchert (Mt. Vernon, IA/Mt. Vernon) added 24 digs for the Bearcats, while sophomore libero
Ashly Schmitt (Johnsburg, IL/Johnsburg) contributed a team high 15 digs from the back row to aid McKendree defensively.
The Bearcats took an early 6-2 lead in set one thanks to four attack errors by Maryville and kills from Fairman and sophomore outside hitter
Amanda Geiger (Tomball, TX/Concordia Lutheran). The Saints responded with eight of the next ten points to claim a 10-8 advantage. McKendree was unable to string anything together in the middle stages of the set as Maryville stretched the lead to 24-19 late in set one. The Bearcats used a timeout to rally back and tie the match at 24 thanks to three kills from Voss, Fairman, and Williams, as well as an ace from Dickmann. Maryville still managed to escape with the set with three kills in the final four points.
McKendree took its first lead in the second set with three straight kills from Rasch, Voss, and junior outside hitter
Allison Schneider (St. Louis, MO/Lindbergh). The Saints responded and were leading 11-10 until another three kill spree from Geiger, Voss, and Rasch put the Bearcats up by three. Maryville roared back with eight of the next nine points to claim a five point advantage. McKendree cut the lead to 21-18 and followed with Fairman landing three straight attacks to even the score. The Bearcats used three Maryville attack errors to rally from down 24-22 and steal the second set to even the match at one.
The teams played even through the first 14 points of the third set, as McKendree tied each point, but could not find a way to overtake the Saints. With the match tied at 7-7 the Bearcats finally broke through with a three point run to take the first lead of the set. Maryville stormed right back and eventually moved ahead once again at 15-14. It was their last lead of the set as McKendree sparked an 11-3 run to close out the set including back to back aces from Williams.
The Bearcats used that momentum to rally through set four taking an early lead on a pair of kills from Williams. The Saints tried their best to extend the match to a final set as they were able to take the lead at 9-8 and trade points, but were never able to lead by more than a point as McKendree took their final lead at 16-15. The Bearcats took eight of ten points to open a five point advantage and cruise to the four set victory.
