GLVC Tournament Home Page
(LEBANON, Ill., Nov 6) – The McKendree University women's volleyball team will begin post season play at the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) Volleyball Championship Tournament on Thursday Nov. 8 at 2:30 p.m. against No. 14 Drury University in East Peoria, Ill.
The Bearcats finished off the regular season with a 3-0 sweep over Southern Indiana on Saturday afternoon in Evansville, Ind., to complete the season with a 16-14 overall record and 10-8 in the GLVC, earning the seventh spot in conference rankings.
McKendree will take on No. 14 Drury University, who ended its season in a three-way tie for first place in the conference with a 25-5 overall record and 15-3 in the GLVC. The last match-up between the Bearcats and the Panthers ended in a 3-0 victory for Drury on Sept. 28 in Lebanon, Ill.
The offensive leaders for McKendree are freshman middle blocker
Hope Gramly (Prosper, TX/Prosper), junior outside hitter
Kelly Voss (St. Rose, IL/Mater Dei), and junior middle blocker
Megan Marks (Colgate, WI/Germantown). Gramly has recorded 336 kills this season, Voss is close behind with 332 kills, and Marks follows with 228 recorded kills. Senior setter
Morgan Melchert (Mt. Vernon, IA/Mt. Vernon) has assisted the Bearcats 1,141 times this season.
Defensive leaders are Voss, junior libero
Alissa Zeitelhack (Overland Park, KS/Blue Valley West), and sophomore outside hitter
Elle Russell (Festus, MO/St. Pius X). Voss leads the pack with 345 digs, Zeitelhack is next with 326, and Russell has acquired 282 recorded digs this season. Leading the Bearcats' defense at the net is Marks and Gramly. Marks leads the team in total blocks with 109 on the season but Gramly leads the team in solo blocks with 20 recorded on the season but falls short to Marks with 98 total blocks.
The GLVC Volleyball Championship Tournament will begin at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday. There will be four matches on the opening day and the winners of those matches will then move on to the semifinals on Friday Nov. 9. The Championship match will take place the following day on Saturday Nov. 10 at noon.
ABOUT DRURY UNIVERSITY:
Drury University currently sits at 14
th place in the AVCA Division II Coaches poll as of Nov. 5. Offensive leaders for the Panthers are right side Bentley Mara, outside hitter Emmalee Chrest, and middle blocker Taylor Forth. Mara has 373 recorded kills, Chrest follows with 355, and Forth is next with 225 kills. Setter Kendra Sater has assisted the Panthers 1,172 times this season. Defensive leaders for Drury are libero Bree Schmidt with 644 recorded digs, Sater with 322 digs, and defensive specialist Kayla Allison with 294 digs. At the net for the Panthers' defense is Forth and middle blocker Evan Larson. Forth has 131 total blocks on the season while Larson has 112.
