LEBANON, Ill. – The McKendree University women's volleyball opened a two-match weekend homestand here Friday evening by suffering a four-set loss to Rockhurst (20-25, 21-25, 26-24, 18-25) in the Melvin Price Convocation Center.
 
With the setback, the Bearcats fall to 7—10 overall and remain in eighth place in the GLVC standings with a 3-4 mark, while Rockhurst improved to 11-4 overall and 4-2 in the GLVC.
 
The Bearcats conclude the two-match homestand with a 3 p.m. match on Saturday, Oct. 8 against Southwest Baptist.
 
In Friday's match, junior outside hitter Brianna Binder (Littleton, Colo./Dakota Ridge) paced the Bearcat offense with 16 kills and added 17 digs for her team-leading 11th double-double of the season. In addition to Binder, junior outside hitter Colleen Preusser (St. Charles, Mo./Lutheran) added 11 kills and 19 digs for her seventh double-double of the season and she added four blocks.
 
One other Bearcat fell kill short of double figures as junior middle blocker Lauren McCurley (Troy, Ill./Triad) recorded nine kills, hit .222 and had a match-high six blocks.
 
Senior middle blocker Claire Diercks (Highland, Ill./Highland) had eight kills and hit .500 as she had no attack errors on 16 attempts and added two blocks as the Bearcats outblocked the Hawks, 8-7, for the match.
 
Both teams had six aces in the match as Preusser and freshman libero Ashlyn Berczynski (Minooka, Ill./Minooka) each had two in the loss.
 
Along with Preusser's 19 and Binder's 16 digs, sophomore setter Amber Williams (Aurora, Colo./Rhodes College) also had 19 digs and tallied 41 assists for her eighth double-double. Two other Bearcats had double-digit digs as senior outside hitter Maddie Misner (Carbondale, Ill./Carbondale) had 13 digs and Berczynski had 12 digs. Sophomore defensive specialist Keeley Davis (Terre Haute, Ind./North Vigo) fell one dig shy of double digits with nine in the match.
 
Rockhurst hit .200 as a team, while the Bearcats hit .140. The two teams combined for 48 attack errors as McKendree had 26 and Rockhurst had 22.
 
McKendree had 95 digs and Rockhurst finished with 92 digs and each team had six service errors on the night.
 
Kenzie Hines was one of four Hawks to record double figure kills as she had 15 and hit .275, while Tera Reberry added 14 kills and Sarah Pyle and Sydney Raszler each had 13 kills for the Hawks.
 
Two Rockhurst players recorded double-doubles as Hines added 13 digs to her 15 kills, while Sarah Montague had 49 assists and 19 digs.
 
Maureen Reilly paced the Rockhurst defense with a match-high 32 digs and Reberry added five blocks in the win.
 
Set 1
The Bearcats jumped to an early 7-3 lead and led 10-7 when the Hawks responded with an 11-4 run to turn a 10-7 deficit into an 18-14 lead. Two kills from Binder and a kill from freshman outside hitter Lauren Harris (Woodlawn, Ill./Woodlawn) brought the Bearcats within 20-17. Rockhurst would score three of the next five points to take a 23-19 lead, but an assisted block from Preusser and McCurley brought McK within 23-20. RU, though, would score the final two points of the set to cap its 25-20 win.
 
Rockhurst hit .149 in the set, while McKendree hit .093 as Binder had four of her team's 10 kills in the set. McKendree held a 4-1 edge in blocks for the set.
 
Set 2
The Hawks held an early 6-4 lead in the second set and led 9-7 when the Bearcats used a 6-2 run to take a 13-11 lead. The run was capped by back-to-back kills from Preusser and Diercks. The Bearcats lead was short-lived as RU responded with 6-0 run capped by a kill from Raszler to take a 17-13 lead. McK, though, rallied to score five straight points to take an 18-17 lead.
 
The Hawks would mount another rally as they scored five straight points to take a 22-18 lead. McK would score three of the next four points to pull within 23-21, before RU used a kill by Hines and an attack error by Binder to post a 25-21 set two win.
 
McK hit .175 with 13 kills in the set, while RU hit .180 as they had four aces in the set. The set had 10 ties and five lead changes.
 
Set 3
The third set was a back-and-forth affair as the teams combined for 18 ties and seven lead changes. Neither team would get much of an advantage early in the set until RU used a 3-1 run to turn a 7-all tie into a 10-8 lead. McK would respond with a 9-6 run to take a 17-16 lead, including capping the with an ace by Berczynski. Rockhurst, though, used a 6-3 run capped by a kill from Pyle to take a 22-20 lead.
 
McK would come right back and score four straight points to take a 24-22 lead, including capping the run with back-to-back kills from Harris and Binder. The Hawks would score the next two points to tie the set at 24, but two straight kills from Preusser capped McK's 26-24 set win.
 
In the set, McKendree hit .231 with 17 kills, including six from Binder, while RU hit .200 with 16 kills, including a combined 11 from Pyle (6) and Reberry (5).
 
Set 4
McKendree jumped to an early 5-4 lead in the fourth set, but RU used a 5-3 run to take a 9-8 lead. The Hawks' lead grew to 14-9, before the Bearcats used a 5-2 run capped by an ace from Preusser to pull within 16-14. The Hawks responded with a 5-2 run to take a 21-16 lead. Following a kill by McCurley brought the Bearcats within 21-17, the Hawks closed the set by scoring four of the final six points to post a 25-18 win.
 
In the set, RU outhit McK, .289 to .045 and they outblocked the Bearcats, 5-1 in the set.