ROMEOVILLE, Ill. - The McKendree University women's volleyball team fell in three sets here Friday evening to 14th-ranked Lewis University (12-25, 14-25, 10-25) in Great Lakes Valley Conference action at Neil Carey Arena on the Lewis campus.
With the loss, McKendree falls to 3-7 overall and 1-1 in the GLVC, while Lewis improved to 8-3 overall and 3-0 in the league.
No Bearcat finsihed with a double-digit kill tally as sophomore outside hitter
Brianna Binder (Littleton, Colo./Dalota Ridge) led the way with eight kills on 34 swings. In addiiton to Binder, sophomore outside/opposite side hitter
Colleen Preusser (St. Charles, Mo./Lutheran) added six kills in the loss.
The Bearcats struggled offensively against nationally-ranked Flyers as they recorded just 22 kills and hit .039 on the night. The 22 kills was the second lowest total of the season and the .039 hitting percentage is third lowest attack percentage in a match this season.
Junior setter
Macy Tongate (Towanda, Ill./Normal University) had 19 assists and one of the team's two block assists for the match.
Defensively, McKendree recorded 40 digs as Binder paced the way with 13, while Preusser added 10 digs and senior libero
Skyler Sieber (Naples, Fla./Montevallo) had nine digs.
The Flyers were paced offensively by Ava Venema, who had 11 kills and hit .440, while Natalie Stefanski and Bella Ray each had 10 kills. Ray hit .526 and Stefanski hit .381. As a team, Lewis his .417 as five Flyers hit over .300 for the match.
Lewis finished the night with five aces, including three by Megan Schlechte and outblocked the Bearcats, 6-1. In addition, the Flyers finished with 52 as Jamie Poppen led the way with 18 digs and Ally Hickey added 10 in the win.
The Bearcats continue the GLVC road swing this coming Saturday, Sept. 25 as they travel to Springfield, Ill., to face the University of Illinois-Springfield in a 3 p.m. GLVC match.
Set 1
Lewis hit .484 and had 17 kills and two aces, while holding McKendree to .103 in the opening set. Binder led McKendree with three kills on eight swings and one error, whole also adding three digs. Stefanski had seven kills on 12 swings and Poppen had six digs for Lewis.
Lewis jumped in in front 9-2 and led 18-9 when the Binder recorded kill to cut Lewis' lead to 18-10. The Flyers would answer Binder's kill by scoring seven of the final nine points of the set to earn the 25-12 set victory.
Set 2
The Flyers scored the first six points of the second set and led by as much as 14-4 before the Bearcats would score three straight points to cut Lewis' lead to 14-7. The run began with a service error by Lewis and then was capped by back-to-back kills from Binder and junior middle blocker/opposite hitter
Claire Diercks (Highland, Ill./Highland). Lewis, though, would respond with a 5-4 run to push out to a 19-11 lead. Following a kill by Preusser to cut Lewis' lead to 19-11. The Flyers would cap the 25-14 set win by scoring six of the final nine points.
McKendree hit .033 in the set as Preusser led the way with four kills and four digs, while Binder had three kills and six digs. Venema and Ray combined for nine kills on 19 swings and added five blocks.
Set 3
Unlike the first two sets, the third set was close early on until Lewis turned a 3-all tie into an 11-4 lead. The Flyers' lead would eventually reach as much as 15 points at 23-8. A kill by senior middle blocker
Hope Gramly (Prosper, Texas/Propser) stopped Lewis' run, before the Flyers scored two of the final four points of the set to post a 25-10 win to seal its match victory.
In the set, McKendree hit .000 and Lewis hit .351.
