LEBANON, Ill. - McKendree University women's volleyball fell in three sets (15-25, 16-265, 17-25) to the University of Missouri-St. Louis in its first home match of the season for the Bearcats at the Melvin Price Convocation Center. 

After playing its first 12 matches of the 2021 season on the road, the Bearcats were finally able to play in front of their home crowd and the 212 fans in attendance saw the Bearcats battle for three hard-fought sets against the Tritons, who entered the match as one of the remaining undefeated teams in Great Lakes Valley Conference. 

With the setback, McKendree falls to 3-10 overall and 1-4 in the league, while UMSL improved to 9-3 overall and 5-0 in the league. 

In Friday's match, the Bearcats offense struggled to get going with a .077 hitting percentage, while UMSL had a .276 hitting percentage for the match.

Leading the way for the Bearcats was sophomore outside/opposite hitter Colleen Preusser (St. Charles, Mo./ Lutheran) as she tallied 13 kills on a .222 hitting percentage and added 14 points with two block assists and had seven digs. With her 13 kills, Preusser took over the team lead in kills on the season with 120. 

In addition to Preusser, sophomore middle blocker Lauren McCurley (Troy, Ill./Triad) added five kills on a .273 hitting percentage and junior middle blocker/opposite hitter Claire Diercks (Highland, Ill./Highland) added four kills with a .200 hitting percentage on the night.

Junior setter Macy Tongate (Towanda, Ill./Normal University) added 25 assists, one kill, and six digs for the Bearcats. 

UMSL held sophomore outside hitter Brianna Binder (Littleton, Colo./Dakota Ridge) to season lows in both kills (3) and digs (2) as Binder entered the match leading the Bearcats in both kills (111) and digs (129). 

Defensively, the Bearcats had two players record double-digits in digs as senior libero Skyler Sieber (Naples, Fla./Montevallo) recorded a team-high 15 digs and junior outside hitter Maddie Misner (Makanda, Ill./Carbondale) finished with 12 digs. The team also had five team blocks in the match. 

UMSL was led by Mya Elliott with 14 kills on a .500 hitting percentage, while recording 17 points. Charlotte Richards also added a double-double for the Tritons with 11 kills on a .310 hitting percentage and 16 digs and Richards also added 13 points in the match. Kaileen Herman had 39 assists and five block assist on the night.

The Tritons also had nine blocks and four aces in the win. 

The Bearcats will return to action in less than 24 hours as they host Truman State University (2-12, 0-5 GLVC) in a 3 p.m. GLVC match.