SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – McKendree University women's volleyball returned to Great Lakes Valley Conference play here Friday evening as the Bearcats were swept in three sets by Drury (14-25, 18-25, 21-25) in GLVC action at the O'Reilly Family Events Center.
 
With the setback, McKendree falls to 9-13 overall and 4-5 in the GLVC, while Drury won its fourth straight match to improve to 12-14 overall and 3-5 in the league. Despite the loss, the Bearcats are still in seventh place in the league standings with three matches to play in the regular season.
 
In Friday's match, the Bearcats struggled hitting the ball as they hit .118 as a team and only finished with 26 kills and no players recorded double-digits in either kills or digs.
 
Senior middle blocker Claire Diercks (Highland, Ill./Highland) led the way offensively with six kills and hit .500, while junior outside hitter Brianna Binder (Littleton, Colo./Dakota Ridge) finished with a season low tying five kills and had her streak of six straight doubles-doubles snapped as she tallied a season low tying seven digs in the loss.
 
Drury held McKendree's No. 2 leader in kills, junior Colleen Preusser (St. Charles, Mo./Lutheran) to a season-low tying three kills and she had six digs. Binder and Preusser combined to hit -.116 in the match as Binder hit -.179 and Preusser hit .000 on the night.
 
McKendree held a 6-3 edge in blocks as junior Lauren McCurley (Troy, Ill./Triad) had four blocks and added three kills.
 
Freshman outside hitter Destiny Gray (Oswego, Ill./Oswego) had kills and hit a team-best .750.
 
Sophomore setter Amber Williams (Aurora, Colo./Rhodes College) had 14 assists and five digs.
 
On the night, McKendree committed a total of 23 errors in the match, including 16 attack errors and three ball-handling errors.
 
Drury was paced by 12 kills, 24 assists and a .500 attack percentage from Chloe Rear, while Salma Lewis and Stormi Tadlock each had 10 kills, while Tadlock hit .600. Lexi Basler had 11 digs to lead the Lady Panthers.
 
The Lady Panthers held an 8-3 edge in service aces as Lewis led the way with four.
 
Set 1
The Bearcats were held to a -.061 attack percentage in the opening set as Drury hit .250 and 14 kills in picking up a 25-14 win.
 
Drury jumped out to an 11-6 lead and led 16-9 when the Bearcats mounted a comeback as they used a 4-2 run to pull within 18-13 following a service error by Juliana Squire. The Lady Panthers, though, responded with a 7-1 run to post the set win.

Set 2
The second set was close again early on Drury jumped out to a 10-6 lead, before McK used a 9-6 run to pull within 16-15. The run began with an attack error by Drury and was capped by a kill from sophomore outside hitter Emma McIlhargie (Birch Run, Mich./Birch Run). DU would answer right back by scoring four of the next five points to take a 20-16 lead. After back-to-back kills from Diercks and McCurley dropped DU's lead to 20-18, the Lady Panthers capped the set by scoring the final five points to post the 25-18 set win to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
 
In the set, Drury outhit McKendree, .195 to .143 as Diercks had four of her team's nine kills in the set. Rear had five kills and the Lady Panthers recorded three aces.
 
Set 3
 The final set belonged to Drury as they scored the first three points and led 8-3 early in the set, before McKendree used a 14-9 run to tie the set at 17-all following a kill by Binder. The lead, though, for McKendree was short-lived as Drury scored six of the next seven points to take a 23-18 lead. After a kill by McIlhargie and an assisted block from McCurley and sophomore setter Catie Shane (Evansville, Ill./Francis J. Reitz) pushed McK within 23-20, Drury would score two of the final three points to seal its 25-21 set win.
 
In the set, McKendree hit .333 with four kills from Binder and three from Gray, while Drury hit .281 as they had 15 kills and four aces.
 
Up Next
The Bearcats will remain on the road as they travel to Rolla, Mo., for a 3 p.m. match on Saturday, Oct. 24 against Missouri S&T.