(LEBANON, Ill., Sept. 16)—The McKendree University women's volleyball team kicked off Great Lakes Valley Conference play Friday night with a 3-0 sweep over Quincy University. The Bearcats won by scores of 25-18, 25-23, and 25-15.

The win moves McKendree to 6-4 overall and 1-0 on the GLVC. The Bearcats return to action tomorrow when wrap up their first home stand of the season with a 3 p.m. tilt against GLVC foe Truman State University.

McKendree was paced offensively by senior middle hitter Sophie Fairman (Staunton, IL/Staunton). Fairman started off the match a perfect 10 for 10 from the field before finishing the match 13 of 17 for a .765 attack percentage. Junior outside hitter Arela Williams (San Diego, CA/LaJolla Country Day) also tallied 13 kills on .591 hitting to go with a match high 16 digs. Freshman outside hitter Kelly Voss (St. Rose, IL/Mater Dei ) tabbed eight kills and eight digs, while senior right side Allison Schneider (St. Louis, MO/Lindbergh) posted seven kills and six digs.

Senior setter Aubry Dickmann (Edwardsville, IL/Edwardsville) handed out a match high 22 assists, while fellow senior setter Rebecca Nauman (Yorkville, IL/Yorkville) paired 19 assists with six digs. Junior middle blocker Carissa Lorenz (New Lenox, IL/Lincoln-Way West) landed four kills to go with a match high three blocks, and senior libero Breanna Howe (Mt. Pulaski, IL/Mt. Pulaski) stuck 14 digs from the back row for McKendree.

The Bearcats started strong thanks to a trio of kills from Schneider which gave McKendree an early 6-2 cushion. After the Hawks countered with a pair of points the Bearcats scored four straight to move ahead 10-4. McKendree continued to roll in the first set with a 6-1 run which included a pair of kills from Williams and Fairman and gave the Bearcats a commanding 16-7 lead. Quincy used a four point run to close the gap to 21-16, but McKendree was too much to handle in the first set notching a seven-point win.

The second set followed a different narrative as the teams traded points back and forth battling to an early 9-8 score in favor of the Bearcats. Schneider landed a kill followed by back to back tallies from Lorenz as McKendree laced three straight points to open a four-point lead 12-8. The Hawks were able to strike back with a four-point run of their own on back to back aces to pull with one at 16-15. The teams traded kills as Dickmann was able to sneak in an attack from the setting position which fooled the Quincy defense for a quick score that pushed the Bearcats ahead by two late in the set. The Hawks pulled within one at 23-22, but McKendree used kills from Schneider and Voss to take two of the final three points to close out the second set.

The Bearcats struck early and often in the third set with a four and five point run to garner an early 11-3 advantage. Quincy was able to string together a few points, but the deficit was too much to overcome as McKendree closed the set with three straight kills and a ten-point win to compelte the sweep.