LEBANON, Ill. – The McKendree University women's volleyball concluded the home portion of its 2022 schedule here Friday evening as the Bearcats suffered a 25-11, 25-21, 25-18 loss on Senior Night to UMSL in Great Lakes Valley Conference action at the Melvin Price Convocation Center.
 
Prior to Friday's match, the Bearcats honored its four departing seniors in a prematch ceremony. The seniors honored were outside hitter Avery Carr (Bloomington, Ill./Bloomington), outside hitter Lillee Olson (Savage, Minn./Southern Connecticut State), middle blocker Sarah Porter (Gifford, Ill./Millikin) and defensive specialist Skyler Sieber (Naples, Fla./Montevallo).
 
With Friday's setback, the Bearcats fall to 9-15 overall and 4-7 in the GLVC, while UMSL improved to 18-5 overall and 9-1 in the league. The Bearcats will conclude the regular season Saturday afternoon with a 3 p.m. match at Maryville and will need to win that match to remain alive for a spot in the GLVC Tournament, which is scheduled for Nov. 10-12 at the EastSide Centre in East Peoria, Ill.
 
On the night, no Bearcat reached double figures in kills as sophomore outside hitter Emma McIlhargie (Birch Run, Mich./Birch Run) and junior outside hitter Colleen Preusser (St. Charles, Mo./Lutheran) each had six kills, while junior outside hitter Brianna Binder (Littleton, Colo./Dakota Ridge) had four kills.
 
Sophomore setter Amber Williams (Aurora, Colo./Rhodes College) posted her 13th double-double of the season with 12 assists and 12 digs. Sophomore libero Keely Davis (Terre Haute, Ind./North Vigo) also had 12 digs to pace the Bearcats defense.
 
McKendree won the block battle on the night as they had six total blocks, including four from senior middle blocker Claire Diercks (Highland, Ill./Highland).
 
Charlotte Richards and Lexie Rang each had 11 kills and combined for 32 digs in the win for the Tritons. Richards had 20 digs in the match, while Rang added 12. Hailey Flowers added 10 kills and hit .333 in the win.
 
UMSL held a 5-3 edge in service aces and outdug the Bearcats, 52-49 on the night. In addition, UMSL outhit McKendree, .244 to .075.
 
Set 1: The first belonged to UMSL as the Tritons jumped out to 7-1 lead and lead by as much as 21-10 late in the set. Following a kill by McIlhargie brought the Bearcats within 21-11, the Tritons closed the set by scoring the final four points to post a 25-11 win, including capping the set win with back-to-back kills by Mya Elliott.
 
In the set, UMSL hit .406 with 14 kills, while McK hit -.032 with eight kills and nine attack errors.
 
Set 2: The second set was close early on as neither team had a lead of more than a point until UMSL used a 3-0 run to turn a 6-all tie into a 9-6 lead. UMSL's lead would be short lived as the Bearcats used a 4-1 run capped by an attack error by Richards to help McK tie the set at 10-all. From that point, UMSL used a 7-1 run to push out to a 17-11 lead, but the Bearcats responded with a 6-1 run capped by an ace from Preusser to pull within 18-17. UMSL would score three of the next five points to push its lead to 21-19, before a kill from junior middle blocker Lauren McCurley (Troy, Ill./Triad) pushed the Bearcats back within one at 21-20. UMSL would close the set by scoring four of the final five points to post a 25-21 set win.
 
In the set, UMSL hit .279 and McKendree hit .235. McIlhargie and McCurley combined for seven kills in the set, while Richards had five kills and nine digs.
 
Set 3: McKendree jumped out to a 7-3 lead in the third set that featured five ties and three lead changes. Following McK's run, UMSL used a 6-2 run capped by a ball handling error from sophomore setter Catie Shane (Evansville, Ind./Francis J. Reitz) to tie the set at 9-all. A kill by Binder would give the Bearcats a 10-9 lead, before the Tritons used a 9-1 run to push out to an 18-11 lead. The Bearcats would score six of the next 11 points to pull within 23-17 following a kill by Binder. Kills by Richards and Flowers sandwiched around a kill by Binder capped the scoring to give UMSL a 25-18 win to seal the match.
 
UMSL hit .104 in the set as Rang and Richards combined for 11 of the Tritons' 15 kills, while McKendree hit .024 in the set with three kills each from Binder and Preusser.