(LEBANON, Ill., Oct. 8)—The McKendree University volleyball team rolled to a 3-0 sweep over Great Lakes Valley Conference foe Saint Joseph's College Saturday afternoon. The Bearcats won by scores of 25-19, 25-16, and 25-15.
The win completes a 3-0 week for McKendree and moves its overall record to 13-5 including an 8-1 mark in GLVC play. The Bearcats return to action Oct. 14
th at the Midwest Region Crossover Challenge with opponents yet to be determined.
McKendree was led offensively by senior middle hitter
Sophie Fairman (Staunton, IL/Staunton) who went 10-12 from the field for a match high .883 attack percentage to pair with a match high four blocks. Junior outside hitter
Arela Williams (San Diego, CA/LaJolla Country Day) put down eight kills, with freshman outside hitter
Kelly Voss (St. Rose, IL/Mater Dei ) adding seven kills and six digs, and senior right side
Allison Schneider (St. Louis, MO/Lindbergh) chipping in six kills of her own.
Senior setter
Aubry Dickmann (Edwardsville, IL/Edwardsville) and sophomore setter
Morgan Melchert (Mt. Vernon, IA/Mt. Vernon) each handed out 15 assists with Melchert adding eight digs. Junior right side
Amanda Geiger (Tomball, TX/Concordia Lutheran) tallied for kills and junior middle blocker
Carissa Lorenz (New Lenox, IL/Lincoln-Way West) put down a pair of kills and added a pair of blocks. Freshman libero
Alissa Zeitelhack (Overland Park, KS/Blue Valley West) recorded a match high 11 digs from the back row for McKendree.
Schneider and Williams got the Bearcats on the board with a kill each, but the Pumas were able to play even as the match knotted at 4-4. Fairman and Voss put down back to back kills to start a 4-1 run in favor of McKendree as the Bearcats moved in front 11-7. Saint Joseph's battled back to tie the set at 14 with a 5-1 run of its own, but the Bearcats used kills from Fairman, Geiger, and Schneider to rip off seven of the next eight points before capturing the final three points of the set to take set one by six.
McKendree took four straight points with kills from Fairman and Williams to take a 5-3 lead to start the seconds set. After dropping a point, the Bearcats reeled in the next seven points with a pair of kills from Fairman and an ace from Williams to go up 12-3. The Pumas countered with three straight aces to cap a 4-0 run and cut the lead in half at 12-8, but McKendree strung together another seven points in a row to take a commanding 11-point lead and rolled to a nine-point win in the second set.
The third set was more of the same for the Bearcats as Fairman put down back to back kills in the midst of a 6-0 rally that gave McKendree an 8-2 lead. The Bearcats extended the lead to 13-5 after scoring three straight with kills from senior right side
Bailey Kampwerth (Breese, IL/Mater Dei) and freshman middle blocker
Megan Marks (Colgate, WI/Germantown). Saint Joseph's couldn't find an answer as they surrendered another 5-0 run to the Bearcats as McKendree took a 20-10 lead before finishing off the Pumas by the same margin.
