The McKendree women's volleyball team kicked otf a doubleheader Saturday with a four set win over the Missouri S&T Miners in St. Charles, Mo. The Bearcats jumped out to a two set lead winning the first two 25-18 and 25-22 respectively. The Miners avoided the sweep with a 25-22 win in set three but the Bearcats finished the stellar performance with a 25-18 win in the fourth.

The Bearcats and Miners opened their first matchup of the season with a high intensity back-and-forth scoring with good reception from both sides. The Bearcats had very good serving in the first set, recording three service aces and no errors to carry them to a 25-18 first set win.

The Bearcats and Miners both utilized their middles heavily in the second set, while still putting up a big block against the Miners. Both teams put up a big block and were evenly matched in their hitting percentages and service aces. A kill by Brianna Binder (Littleton, CO/Dakota Ridge) would secure the second set for the Bearcats, 25-22.

The Miners took control right from the start in the third set, establishing an early 6-0 lead. The Bearcats would find a way to come back and tie the score on multiple occasions late in the set, but ultimately fell 22-25.

McKendree went back to running an offense that had worked well for them in the first two sets, moving around their pin hitters and good defensive coverage. The Bearcats limited the Miners to a .047 hitting percentage in the fourth set in addition to maintaining a comfortable five-point margin. The Bearcats would take the fourth set 25-18 and the match 3-1.

McKendree produced a 0.199 hitting percentage with 49 kills and eight service aces. Colleen Preusser (St. Charles, MO/Lutheran) recorded a season-high 15 kills, with the addition of 14 digs. Amanda Tippett (Forestill, MO/St. Dominic) led her team with a four service aces, with the addition of 15 digs and one assist. Gracie Mar had 36 assists in the match, with two service aces, six digs and one block. Alexandria Muschong (Woodstock, IL/Woodstock) put up a big presence at the net with four blocks and six kills. Maddie Misner (Makanda, IL/Carbondale) led the defense with 18 digs, in addition to eight kills.

With the win the Bearcats improved to 3-4 overall.