LEBANON, Ill. – McKendree University women's volleyball will close out 2022 regular season this coming weekend as they host UMSL and travel to Maryville for Great Lakes Valley Conference matches.
The Bearcats open the weekend on Friday, Oct. 29 with a 6 p.m. Senior Night match at the Melvin Price Convocation Center against UMSL, before traveling to St. Louis, Mo., for a 3 p.m. match on Saturday, Oct. 30 at Maryville.
Prior to Friday's match with UMSL, the Bearcats will honor its four departing seniors in a prematch ceremony. The four seniors that will be recognized are graduate student outside hitter
Lillee Olson (Savage, Minn./Southern Connecticut State), graduate student libero
Skyler Sieber (Naples, Fla./Montevallo), senior middle blocker
Sarah Porter (Gifford, Ill./Millikin) and redshirt junior outside hitter
Avery Carr (Bloomington, Ill./Bloomington).
McKendree comes into this weekend's action sporting a 9-14 overall record and 4-6 mark in the GLVC after suffering back-to-back defeats last weekend on the road against Drury (3-0) and Missouri S&T (3-2). Despite those two setbacks, the Bearcats are still in eighth place in the league standings heading into the final two weeks of GLVC play.
Entering this weekend's play, the Bearcats remain in the running for one of the eight spots in the GLVC Tournament, which is scheduled for Nov. 10-12 at the EastSide Centre in Peoria, Ill. A win over both UMSL and Maryville this weekend would all but solidify a tournament berth for the Bearcats, while a win over Maryville on Saturday is necessary to remain alive for a postseason berth.
ABOUT THE BEARCATS
The Bearcats offense continues to be led by the play of junior outside hitters
Brianna Binder (Littleton, Colo./Dakota Ridge) and
Colleen Preusser (St. Charles, Mo./Lutheran). That pair have combined for 530 kills, 580 digs, 73 blocks, 60 aces and are hitting a combined .159 on the year. Binder leads the team in both kills per set (3.38) and digs per set (3.51), while Preusser is averaging 2.57 kills and 3.01 digs per set. In addition, those two have combined for 26 double-doubles as Binder leads the way with 16 and Preusser has had 10.
Two other Bearcats have recorded over 100 kills on the year as senior middle blocker
Claire Diercks (Highland, Ill./Highland) has had 155 kills and is hitting .277, while junior middle blocker
Lauren McCurley (Troy, Ill./Triad) has had 118 kills, is hitting .266 and is third in the GLVC in blocks with 100.
The Bearcats offense is quarterbacked by sophomore setter
Amber Williams (Aurora, Ill./Rhodes College) as she is fourth in the GLVC in assists per set as she is averaging 9.76 per set and is averaging 2.56 digs per set and is fifth in blocks with 23. Williams has also recorded 12 double-doubles, which are second most on the team. She recently went over 1,000 assists in her collegiate career and enters play this weekend having recorded 1,121 career assists as she has had 869 at McKendree and recorded 256 last season at Rhodes.
Defensively, the Bearcats are sixth in the league in digs per set as they are averaging 16.69 per set and are eighth in the league in blocks per set as they are averaging 1.88 per set. The Bearcats have had six or more blocks in a match 17 times, including a season-high 14 blocks in its four-set win over then 19th-ranked Michigan Tech at the Hampton Inn Invitational in Kenosha, Wis. Additionally, McKendree's foes are hitting .192 on the season.
McCurley's 1.15 blocks per set average are fourth-best in the GLVC. She has recorded five or more blocks in match eight times this season, including a high of 10 blocks in the win over Michigan Tech. Along with McCurley, Diercks is second in blocks with 54 and is averaging 0.61 per set. Three other Bearcats have had 20 or more blocks on the year as Pruesser has had 38, while Binder has had 35 and Williams has tallied 23.
The Bearcats have also had four players record 200 or more digs on the year as Binder leads the way with 312, while Preusser has had 268, senior outside hitter
Maddie Misner (Carbondale, Ill./Carbondale) has had 231 and Williams has had 228. Misner is averaging 2.66 digs per set on the year.
As a team, McKendree has recorded 1,105 kills, 1,485 digs, 167.5 blocks and 138 aces and is hitting .177 as a team. The Bearcats are fifth in the GLVC in team attacks per set as they are averaging 37.18 per set.
ABOUT UMSL (17-5, 8-1 GLVC)
The Tritons comes into Friday's sporting a 17-5 overall record and are tied for first place in the league standings with an 8-1 record. The Tritons has won two straight matches and nine of its last 10 overall with the lone loss being a five-setter against Northwood in its second match of the Midwest Region Crossover on Oct. 14. Last weekend, the Tritons returned to GLVC play with a four-set home win over Maryville.
Leading the way offensively for UMSL this season are graduate student outside hitter Charlotte Richards and senior outside hitter Lexie Rang. Richards leads the way as she is averaging 4.26 kills per set, is hitting .286, and has had 38 aces, while Rang is averaging 3.46 kills per set and is hitting .259 and has had 28 aces.
Two other Tritons - senior outside hitter Hailey Flowers and freshman middle blocker Hannah Copleand – have had 150 or more kills on the year as Flowers has had 173 and is hitting .304, while Copeland has had 151 kills and is hitting a team-best .324.
Defensively, senior middle blocker Mya Elliott leads in blocks with 58, while Copeland has had 48 blocks and Rang has recorded 38 blocks. Richards also leads the way in digs as she is averaging 4.55 per set, while Rang is second as she averages 3.18 digs per set.
The Tritons lead the league in aces with 181, including 38 from Richards, 31 from junior libero Kylie Adams and freshman setter Caitlin Bishop has had 30 aces. As a team, UMSL has had five players record 20 or more aces on the season.
As a team, UMSL is hitting .271 with 1,098 kills, 1,297 digs and 140 blocks and their opponents are hitting just .168 on the year.
UMSL was picked to finish second in the Preseason GLVC Coaches Poll after posting their third season of at least 20 wins in the last five seasons and their first-ever NCAA Tournament win a season ago against Lewis in the first round of the NCAA Midwest Regional. In the preseason poll, UMSL earned 131 points and three first place votes.
ABOUT MARYVILLE (16-10, 3-7 GLVC)
The Saints comes into this weekend's action sporting a 16-10 overall record and a currently 3-7 in the league with two matches remaining. Maryville opened the season winning nine of its first 10 matches, but has gone just 7-9 over its last 16 matches and have lost two straight overall as they fell in three sets last Friday at Missouri S&T and then suffered a four-set loss on Saturday at UMSL. The 16 wins are the most for the program in the school's Division II era.
Leading the way offensively for Maryville, who does not play on Friday before hosting the Bearcats on Saturday, is freshman outside hitter Ella Brinkman, who is averaging 3.47 kills, 3.97 digs and has had 34 aces and is hitting .187. In addition to Brinkman, freshman outside hitter Caroline Glastetter is averaging 2.81 kills per set and is hitting .285 and freshman outside hitter Grace Graham is averaging 2.24 kills and 1.23 digs per set on the year.
Defensively, the Saints are paced by the play of junior libero Taylor Hasbrook, who is averaging 4.55 digs per set and has had 26 aces.
Maryville uses a two-setter system as junior Abbie Schnell and freshman Rachel Schipper lead the way. Schnell has recorded 576 assists, is averaging 6.33 per set, and is tied for the team lead in aces with 34, while Schipper has had 416 assists and is averaging 4.78 assists per set and has had 25 aces on the year.
As a team, Maryville is hitting .194 as they have recorded 1,243 kills, 1,612 digs, 138 blocks and 160 aces and Maryville's opponents are hitting just .167 on the season.
Maryville was tabbed to finish ninth in the Preseason GLVC Coaches Poll as the Saints earned 50 points to finish four points in front of McKendree, who was tabbed 10th and 16 points behind Illinois-Springfield, who was tabbed eighth.
UP NEXT
These two matches conclude the regular season for the Bearcats and they will for the regular season to conclude next weekend to determine their postseason fate.
