HAMMOND, Ind. – McKendree University women's volleyball opened play here Friday in the Midwest Region Crossover by seeing a two-set lead slip away as the Bearcats ultimately fell to Wisconsin-Parkside (25-19, 25-20, 20-25, 19-25, 15-17) at the Hammond Sportsplex.

With the setback, McKendree falls to 8-11 overall, while Parkside improves to 8-12 on the season. The win was the second this season for Parkside over McKendree as the Rangers earned a four set home win over the Bearcats in the final match of the Hampton Inn Classic on Sept. 3.

McKendree concludes play in the two-day crossover event featuring all the schools from the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC), the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) and Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) on Saturday, Oct. 15 with a 9 a.m. match with Tiffin and a 4:30 p.m. match with Walsh.

Junior outside hitter Brianna Binder (Littleton, Colo./Dakota Ridge) posted her third straight and her team-leading 13th double-double of the season as she had 17 kills and had 11 digs, while hitting .333 for the match. In addition to Binder, junior outside hitter Colleen Preusser (St. Charles, Mo./Lutheran) added 15 kills and 15 digs for her third straight and ninth double-double of the season.

Junior middle blocker Lauren McCurley (Troy, Ill./Triad) missed double-digit kills by one as she finished with nine on a .600 attack percentage and added four blocks, including two solo blocks. Senior middle blocker Claire Diercks (Highland, Ill./Highland) hit .467 as she had eight kills and added three blocks in the loss.

Sophomore setter Amber Williams (Aurora, Colo./Rhodes College) tallied her 10th double-double of the season as she had 47 assists and 12 digs.

Five Bearcats recorded double-digits in figs in the match as they outdug the Rangers, 74-73. In addition to Preusser's team-high 15, and the 12 and 11 respectively from Williams and Binder, sophomore defensive specialist Keely Davis (Terre Haute, Ind./North Vigo) had 14 and senior outside hitter Maddie Misner (Carbondale, Ill./Carbondale) chipped in with 13.

The teams combined for 27 aces in the match as McKendree recorded a season high 14 and Parkside added 13. Preusser and Davis each had three in the match, while Binder, Misner and freshman libero Ashlyn Berczynski (Minooka, Ill./Minooka) each had two. The three aces for Davis tied a career high.

Reese Rossnagel paced Parkside with 31 kills and hit .329 as she had just seven errors on 73 attack attempts. The 31 kills ties for the fourth most by an NCAA Division II player in a five-set match this season.

Along with Rossnagel, Ava Irvin added 11 kills, while Marisa Lootens had a match-high 17 digs and Lindsey Krznarich had eight blocks Elle Truckenbrod recorded four aces in the win.

As a team, Parkside hit .261 to McKendree's .218 and had a 10-7 blocking advantage.

Set 1
The first set was a back-and-forth affair as it featured nine ties and four lead changes. McK held an early 11-8 lead in the set, but Parkside used a 5-1 run capped by an assisted block from Lexi Packard and Krznarich to take a 13-12 lead. The lead, though, was short-lived as McK responded with an 11-2 run capped by back-to-back kills from Binder and Preusser to take a 23-15 lead in the set. The Rangers, though, responded with a 4-1 run to drop McKendree's lead to 24-19, before Preusser capped her team's 25-19 set win with her third kill of the set.

McCurley led McKendree with four kills and a .800 hitting percentage in the set as McK outhit Parkside, .333 to .176. The Bearcats also had three aces in the set.

Set 2
Parkside jumped out to an 8-5 lead early in the second set, but McK scored 10 of the next 11 points to push out to a 15-9 lead. A McCurley kill capped the run. The Bearcats lead grew to 20-13, when Parkside responded with a 7-2 run to pull within 22-20. On the next serve, Parkside's Alysha Bricki committed a service error to help the Bearcats close the set on a 3-0 run to post a 25-20 win to a take a 2-0 lead in the match. Preusser scored the winning point on an ace.

Once again, McK outhit Parkside, .310 to .172 as they had 14 kills, including four from Binder and three each from Preusser and McCurley. The Bearcats also had five aces in the set and outblocked the Rangers, 3-2.

Set 3
Rossnagel pounded down nine kills and hit .368 as the Rangers took the third set by a score of 25-20 to prevent a Bearcat sweep. For the set, Parkside hit .289 with 14 kills and three aces, while McK hit. 139 with nine kills and four aces, including two from Preusser.

Set 4
Much like the third set, the fourth set also belonged to Parkside as they hit .462 and got seven kills on 14 swings from Rossnagel to post a 25-19 win and set up a winner-take-all fifth set. The Rangers also had three aces and outblocked the Bearcats, 4-1 in the set.

McK hit .156 in the set as Binder and Diercks combined for seven kills. The Bearcats had two aces in the set.

Set 5
Much like the opening set, the fifth and deciding set was also back-and-forth as the teams combined for nine ties and six lead changes in the set.

Parkside jumped out to an 8-5 lead in the set, before the Bearcats responded with a 6-0 run keyed by three kills from Binder to take an 11-8 lead in the set. Parkside, though, would respond as they scored six of the next eight points to take a 14-13 lead. Back-to-back kills from Rossnagel, who had six in the set, capped the run. A Parkside service error and a kill by Preusser helped McK retake the lead at 15-14, before the Rangers used two kills from Rossnagel and an attack error from freshman outside hitter Lauren Harris (Woodlawn, Ill./Woodlawn) to win 17-15 and claim the match.

In the set, Parkside outhit McKendree, .218 to .188, but McKendree had two more kills (11-9), but Parkside had two aces to none for McKendree. Binder and Preusser each had five kills in the set for the Bearcats.