INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – McKendree University women's volleyball closed out play here Saturday afternoon in the season opening UIndy Invitational by suffering a hard-fought five-set loss to Wayne State (Mich.) University (25-20, 24-26, 25-21, 22-25, 11-15) at the ARC (Athletics-Recreation Center) Dome on the UIndy campus.
 
With the setback, McKendree falls to 2-2 on the season, while Wayne State opens the season with a 3-1 record. The 2-2 start to the season is the best for the program since 2018 when the Bearcats also opened the season with a 2-2 record through the first four matches.
 
The five-set match with Wayne State was the second of the day for the Bearcats as they opened Saturday's action with a five-set come-from-behind victory over Montevallo. McKendree is now 27-19 in five set matches since the beginning of the 2014 season.
 
Against Wayne State, three Bearcats recorded double digits in kills as junior outside hitter Brianna Binder (Littleton, Colo./Dakota Ridge) led the way with a season-high 21 kills and added a career-high 26 digs for her second straight double-double. Binder also had four blocks in the loss.
 
In addition to Binder, sophomore outside hitter Emma McIlhargie (Birch Run, Mich./Birch Run) tallied a career high 18 kills and hit a team-best .333, while junior outside hitter Colleen Preusser (St. Charles, Mo./Lutheran) had 15 kills, 19 digs and three blocks and added three aces.
 
The Bearcats defense recorded 13 blocks as senior middle blocker Claire Diercks (Highland, Ill./Highland) recorded a career-high seven blocks, while junior middle blocker Lauren McCurley (Troy, Ill./Triad) had six blocks. Sophomore setter Amber Williams (Aurora, Colo./Rhodes College) had 60 assists, eight digs and a career-high five blocks.
 
Wayne State was led by Lauren VanderWal with 18 kills, 16 digs and six blocks, while Kayla Giroux added 10 kills and three blocks and Maddy Benoit led the match with 28 digs and Halle Shell had six blocks to go with eight kills.
 
As a team, McKendree outhit WSU .174 to .142, but was outblocked 14-13 and both teams recorded six aces and combined for 157 digs as McK had 85 digs and WSU recorded 72.
 
Perhaps the biggest difference in the match where McK outpointed the Warriors, 87-74, came on errors as the Bearcats had 35 attack errors and 10 service errors, while WSU had 28 attack errors and three service errors in the five-set match.
 
Set 1
McKendree got off to a strong start in the opening set as they jumped in front 6-3 and led 13-7 when the Warriors rallied to score five of the next eight point to drop McK's lead to 16-12. Three straight attack errors and a kill by Binder gave McK a 20-12 lead. That run seemed to motivate WSU as they responded with an 8-2 run to pull within 22-20. That would be as close as the match would get as the Bearcats closed out the set with three consecutive kills by Preusser, McIlhargie and Binder.
McK hit .310 in the set and recorded 17 kills, including eight kills on 16 swings (.500 attack percentage) by Binder. WSU hit .150 in the set.
 
Set 2
The second set was a back-and-forth affair as it featured 12 ties and seven lead changes as both teams hit negative for the set as the teams combined for 22 attack errors and four service errors. WSU would hold an 8-4 edge in blocks for the set.
 
McK led 3-1 early in the set, before WSU used a 10-5 run to push in front 11-8. The Bearcats, though, scored three straight points aided by kills from McIlhargie and Preusser and an attack error by WSU to tie the set at 11. WSU would score three straight points to push in front 14-11, before the Bearcats scored of the next five points to tie the set at 15. The Wildcats then would score seven of the next nine points to push in front 22-17. The Bearcats wouldn't go away as they used a 7-1 run capped by three consecutive aces from Pruesser to take a 24-23 lead. The Warriors would answer back by scoring final straight points to cap their 26-24 set win.
 
Set 3
With the match tied at a set apiece, the Bearcats used a .267 attack percentage and 17 kills to record a 25-21 win in the third set to take a 2-1 lead in the match. Along with recording 17 kills, the Bearcats held WSU to an .087 attack percentage, and they recorded 27 digs and three blocks. Binder had six kills and eight digs in the set, while senior outside hitter Maddie Misner (Carbondale, Ill./Carbondale) had nine digs.
 
Set 4
The fourth set was another back-and-forth contest as it featured eight ties and three lead changes. WSU took an early 5-3 lead, before the Bearcats used a 7-4 run to take a 10-9 lead following a kill by McIlhargie. After VanderWal retied the set on a kill, the Bearcats scored three of the next four points, including capping the run on an ace by sophomore libero Keely Davis (Terre Haute, Ind./Terre Haute North Vigo) to take a 13-11 lead. The Warriors, though, would mount a rally as they used a 10-4 run to take a 21-17 lead. Following two kills by Pruesser and a kill by McIlhargie that pushed the Bearcats within one at 21-20, WSU would close the set by scoring four of the final six points to earn a 25-22 win to force a ffith and decisive set.
 
In the set, McK hit .095 with 14 kills and 10 attack errors, while WSU hot .213 and had 15 kills and just five attack errors. McIlhargie had six kills and hit .500 in the set.
 
Set 5
WSU got off to a fast start in the decisive fifth set as they scored six of the first seven points to lead 6-1. The Warriors' lead eventually grew to 10-3, before McK responded with a 6-2 run that was keyed by three kills from McIlhargie to pull within 12-9. WSU would come back and score three of the final five points to post the 15-11 set win.
 
In the set, both teams hit .300 or better as McK hit .300 and had nine kills, including four by McIlhargie, while WSU hit .350 with eight kills, including three by VanderWal.

Noting McKendree
-Binder recorded 58 kills and 75 digs in the four matches at the UIndy Invitational.
-Preusser had 50 kills, 51 digs and seven aces in the four matches at the UIndy Invitational.
-McIlhargie hit .333 with 24 kills in eight sets (all played on Saturday) at the UIndy Invitational.
-As a team, McK outhit its four opponents on the weekend - .169 to .164 and they recorded 22 aces in the four matches.
-Two other Bearcats – Misner and Diercks also had 20 or more kills for the four matches as Misner had 29 kills and 32 digs, while Diercks tallied 26 kills and 17 blocks.
-McCurley recorded 14 blocks in the four matches.
 
Up Next
McKendree will remain on the road next weekend (Sept. 2-3) as they travel to Kenosha, Wis., to compete in the Hampton Inn Invitational hosted by Wisconsin-Parkside. At the two day event, the Bearcats will face Minnesota-Crookston and Michigan Tech on Sept. 2 at 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., before facing Upper Iowa and Parkside on Sept. 3 at 11 a.m. and 7 p.m.