LEBANON, Ill. – The McKendree University women's volleyball team opened the home portion of its 2022 schedule here Friday by suffering two setbacks to both UMSL and Maryville in a tri-match held at the Melvin Price Convocation Center.
 
McKendree (4-6) opened its home schedule with a three-set loss to UMSL (8-25, 20-25, 16-25) and then fell in three sets to Maryville (19-25, 22-25, 21-25) to conclude Friday's action. In between McKendree's matches, Maryville picked up a four-set win over UMSL.
 
The two losses pushed the Bearcats losing skid to four straight matches since posting a four-set win last Friday in Kenosha, Wis., against then 19th-ranked Michigan Tech.
 
MATCH 1 – UMSL 3, McKENDREE 0
In Friday's opening match, the Bearcats offense struggled offensively as they were held to an .088 attack percentage as they recorded just 26 kills but held a 5-4 edge in blocks against the Tritons. The .088 attack percentage is the second lowest of the season for the Bearcats as they hit .073 in the season opener against Anderson.
 
Junior outside hitter Brianna Binder (Littleton, Colo./Dakota Ridge) led the way offensively with eight kills and hit a team-best .421. In addition to Binder, senior outside hitter Maddie Misner (Carbondale, Ill./Carbondale) and freshman outside hitter Lauren Harris (Woodlawn, Ill./Woodlawn) each had six kills in the setback.
 
Sophomore setter Amber Williams (Aurora, Colo./Rhodes College) had 21 assists, while junior outside hitter Colleen Preusser (St. Charles, Mo./Lutheran) paced the Bearcats defense with 13 digs, while Misner had 10 digs.
 
In the match, six different Bearcats recorded a block as senior middle blocker Claire Diercks (Highland, Ill./Highland) had two blocks to pace the Bearcats.
 
UMSL (7-2) extended its win streak to four straight matches with the win as Charlotte Richards paced the Tritons with a match-high 16 kills and added 13 digs for a double-double and hit .438 in the win. Hailey Flowers and Hannah Copeland each had eight kills and hit a combined .407 as Copeland hit .500 and Flowers hit .333 for the match.
 
The Tritons had five aces, including three from Lexie Rang, in the win. Additionally, they hit .327 as a team.
 
McKendree got off to a strong start in the opening set as the Bearcats led 4-1 and held a 6-4 lead, before UMSL used a 5-1 run to take a 9-7 lead. Preusser would stop the run with a kill to drop UMSL's lead to 9-8. From that point, Rang would take over the match as she recorded a kill to give UMSL a 10-8 lead and then served 15 consecutive points to give the Tritons a 25-8 win in the set. In the set, UMSL hit .593 and had three aces, while McK hit .000.
 
UMSL jumped out to an 8-4 lead in the second set, before back-to-back kills from Misner and Williams to pull within 8-6. The Tritons, though, used a 6-3 run to push in front 14-9, before McK used a 4-1 run capped by an assisted block from Misner and freshman middle blocker Hannah Kampwerth (Bartelso, Ill./Breese Central) to pull within 15-13. That would be as close as the Bearcats would get as UMSL closed the set on a 10-7 run to cap its 25-20 set win to take a 2-0 lead in the match. McK hit .161 with 10 kills, including five from Harris, and three blocks in the set, while UMSL hit .237 with 15 kills.
 
Much like the first two sets, UMSL jumped out a lead in the third set as they scored 11 of the first 12 points to take an 11-1 lead in the set. The Tritons lead eventually grew to 21-7, before the Bearcats used a 9-3 run capped by kills from Misner, Binder and Williams to drop UMSL's lead to 24-16. Copeland, though, would cap the 25-16 set win on a kill to give the Tritons the victory. UMSL hit .238 with 15 kills, including six from Richards, while McK hit .100 with 11 kills, including five kills from Binder.
 
MATCH 2 – MARYVILLE 3, McKENDREE 0
In the final match of the day against Maryville (9-1), McKendree held an 8-5 edge in blocks and recorded 31 kills and hit .117. One of the biggest differences in the match was serving as the Bearcats had one error and seven service errors, while MU had five aces and two service errors.
 
Binder continued her strong play in the match as she finished with a double-double of 12 kills and 12 digs and hit a team-best .281. In addition to Binder, no other Bearcat recorded more than five kills and Preusser had five kills and three assisted blocks.
 
Williams and sophomore setter Catie Shane (Evansville, Ind./Francis J. Reitz) recorded 19 and eight assists respectively in the match.
 
Misner and Binder each had 12 digs in the match, while junior middle blocker Lauren McCurley (Troy, Ill./Triad) had seven blocks, including two solo blocks and five assisted blocks.
 
Maryville, who is off to their best start in the school's Division II era, was paced offensively by 10 kills each from Caroline Glastetter and Ella Brinkmann. Brinkmann also added 15 digs, while Taylor Hasbrook recorded a match-high 16 digs.
 
As a team, MU hit .123 with 42 kills and five aces.
 
McKendree jumped out to a 6-1 lead early in the first set, but that lead didn't last long as MU responded with a 7-1 run to take an 8-7 lead. The Saints lead eventually grew to 21-15, before the Bearcats used a 4-3 run capped by a Williams kill to pull within 24-19. Glastetter would cap MU's 25-19 set win with a kill. In the set, MU outhit McK, .225 to. 184. Grace Graham had six of her eight kills in the set for the Saints, while Binder had four kills to pace the Bearcats.
 
Maryville would jump out to an 11-6 lead in the second set, but the Bearcats used a 6-2 run to pull within 13-12. MU, though, came back and used a 6-3 run to push out to a 19-15 lead. The Bearcats would respond with four straight points to tie the set at 19-all. The run was capped by a kill from McCurley. MU would rebound as they closed set scoring six of the final nine points to earn a 25-22 win and take a 2-0 lead in the match. McK outhit MU in the set, .119 to .102.
 
The third and final set was the most competitive of the night as it featured six ties and three lead changes. Neither team would lead by most than two points in the early part of the set, before turned a 7-6 deficit into a 10-7 lead. The Bearcats, though, would respond with a 5-3 run to pull within 13-11. The Saints would come right back as they used a 7-3 run to push its lead to 20-14. The Bearcats wouldn't go away as they used a 7-4 to pull within 24-21. But, that would be as close as McK would get a service error by Williams gave MU a 25-21 win. Both teams hit under .100 in the set as McK hit .050 and MU hit .049. McK had six blocks in the set, including five from McCurley.
 
UP NEXT
The Bearcats will return to action next Friday, Sept. 16 as they open Great Lakes Valley Conference play with a 6 p.m. in the Convocation Center against the University of Indianapolis.