Box Score (Springfield, Ill., November 10) - The McKendree University volleyball team rolled to a four-set victory on the road against Great Lakes Valley Conference foe University of Illinois Springfield Tuesday evening. The Bearcats won by scores of 25-17, 25-12, 25-27, and 25-11.

The Bearcats improve to 20-9 overall and 14-2 in the GLVC. McKendree will wrap up its regular season with a pair of GLVC road matches this weekend beginning Friday versus Bellarmine University in Louisville, KY at 7 p.m.

Sophomore outside hitter Arela Williams (San Diego, CA/LaJolla Country Day) continued her stellar season leading the Bearcats with a match high 21 kills on 38 attempts for a .421 attack percentage. Williams added 11 digs to notch the matches only double-double. Senior right side hitter Lauren Apetz (Glenwood, FL/DeLand) was second on the team with eight kills and three blocks, while redshirt junior Hannah Wessel (Waterloo, IL/Gibault Catholic) tallied seven kills and nine digs for McKendree.

Junior setter Aubry Dickmann (Edwardsville, IL/Edwardsville) had a match high 21 assists along with six digs, while freshman setter Morgan Melchert (Mt. Vernon, IA/Mt. Vernon) and junior setter Rebecca Nauman (Yorkville, IL/Yorkville) has ten and eight respectively. Junior middle hitter Sophie Fairman (Staunton, IL/Staunton) put down six kills and five blocks, senior right side Taylor Voss (Breese, IL/Breese Central) and sophomore middle blocker Maria Rasch (Kenosha, WI/Westosha Central) each had eight kills, and sophomore libero Ashly Schmitt (Johnsburg, IL/Johnsburg) notched ten digs to stymie the Prairie Stars offense.

The Bearcats fell behind early after Illinois Springfield tallied three kills and an ace to jump out to a 5-2 lead. McKendree responded taking eight of the next ten points with three kills from Apetz. McKendree used three separate four point runs to run cruise through set one by eight points.

The Bearcats stayed hot in set two jumping out in front 5-1 with a pair of kills from Williams and three Prairie Stars attack errors. Illinois Springfield rallied to a 7-6 advantage after seven of eight points, but McKendree responded with eight straight points including back to back aces from Dickmann and the Bearcats cruised to a 13 point win.

Illinois Springfield showed signs of life in the third set staving off McKendree through the early stages. The Prairie Stars eight kills in their first ten points and grasped an early 13-10 lead. The Bearcats seemed to regain their choke hold as Illinois Springfield committed three straight errors to spark a four point swing and hand the lead over to McKendree. The Bearcats extended that lead to 17-14 after back to back kills from Wessel and Williams before trading points with Illinois Springfield. After the back and forth battle the Prairie Stars used a four point run to take a 23-22 lead and held off the Bearcats to briefly extend the match.

The fourth set was all McKendree as the Bearcats used a 19-4 run to stroll through the set and clinch the match. Williams tabbed seven kills in the final set and the Bearcats moved one win away from clinching their first ever GLVC East Division title.