KENOSHA, Wis. – The McKendree University women's volleyball team concluded play here Saturday in the Hampton Inn Invitational hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Parkside held at De Simone Arena with two hard-fought four-set losses.
 
McKendree (4-4) opened the day with a four-set loss to Upper Iowa (21-25, 21-25, 20-25, 25-18) and then concluded the event with a four-set loss to the host school, Parkside (17-25, 22-25, 26-24, 21-25).
 
With Saturday's two losses, the Bearcats concluded the two-day event with a 2-2 record as they opened the tournament with wins on Friday against Minnesota-Crookston and No. 19 Michigan Tech.
 
At the two-day event, junior outside hitter Brianna Binder (Littleton, Colo./Dakota Ridge) led the way for the Bearcats with 48 kills and added 53 digs, 10 digs and five aces, while junior outside hitter Colleen Preusser (St. Charles, Mo./Lutheran) added 37 kills and 43 digs and junior middle blocker Lauren McCurley (Troy, Ill./Triad) paced the defense with 19 blocks and freshman libero Ashlyn Berczynski (Minooka, Ill./Minooka) had a team-best 56 digs and averaged 4.67 digs per set.
 
MATCH 1 – UPPER IOWA 3, McKENDREE 1
In Saturday's opening match against Upper Iowa, the Bearcats offense recorded 51 kills and hit .172, while UIU had 45 kills and hit .200. The Bearcats were also outblocked, 7-4 and UIU had eight aces to McK's six aces.
 
Binder and Preusser led the way offensively for the Bearcats as they each had 16 kills and also had 16 digs each in the match. In addition to Binder and Preusser, sophomore outside hitter Emma McIlhargie (Birch Run, Mich./Birch Run) added eight kills. Preusser hit a team-best .308 in the loss.
 
The Bearcats recorded 76 digs in the four-set match as Berczynski led the way with a match-high 21 digs, while senior outside hitter Maddie Misner (Carbondale, Ill./Carbondale) had 15 digs on the day.
 
Sophomore setter Amber Williams (Aurora, Colo./Cherokee Trail) had 40 assists, five digs and two blocks, while McCurley had three blocks to pace the Bearcats.
 
Upper Iowa (5-1) was paced offensively by 17 kills and a .394 attack percentage from Zoe Semelroth, while Maggie Stevelinck added 10 kills and three blocks. Nicole Pozorski had a double-double of 39 assists and 10 digs, while Kaci Beesecker had a team-high 20 digs.
 
The opening set was a back-and-forth affair as the set featured 16 ties and five lead changes. In addition, the teams combined for 25 kills and Bearcats had three aces in the set. McKendree jumped to an early 4-1 lead, but UIU rallied to score 11 of the next 18 points to take a 12-11 lead. Following the lead by UIU, a kill from Binder jumpstarted a 3-0 run for the Bearcats to retake the lead at 13-12. From that point, the teams took turns holding the lead until the Peacocks closed the set by scoring the final four points to turn a 21-all tie into a 25-21 set win. Three of the final points scored by UIU came because of McKendree errors.
 
UIU jumped out to a 7-2 lead early in the second set, before the Bearcats responded with a 5-0 run capped by a kill from Preusser to tie the set at 7-all. That tie seemed to ignite the Peacocks as they used an 11-4 run to push out to an 18-11 lead. The Bearcats, though, used an 11-1 run capped by an ace from Misner and a kill by Binder to push out toa 22-19 lead. Two Bearcat service errors helped UIU push within 23-21, but the Bearcats would use a kill from Binder and an attack error by Semelroth to cap a 25-21 comeback set win to tie the match a 1-all. McK had 14 kills in the set, including a combined nine from Preusser (5) and Binder (4).
 
The third set was another back-and-forth affair as it featured 10 ties and four lead changes. In the set, UIU jumped out a 5-2 lead and led 8-6 when the Bearcats responded with a 3-1 run capped by a kill from McCurley to tie the set at 9. From that point, the teams would take turns holding the lead until UIU score four straight points to turn a 19-all tie into a 23-19 lead. A Preusser kill stopped the UIU run, before back-to-back kills from Madelyn Rettler capped UIU's 25-20 set win with back-to-back kills. In the set, the two teams combined for 29 kills as McK had 17 and UIU had 12 and they combined to hit .284. Binder and Preusser each had six kills for the Bearcats, while Rettler and Semelroth had four kills each UIU.
 
In the fourth and final set, UIU hit .215 and held McK to an .000 attack percentage in picking up a 25-18 win to seal the match victory. Binder had four kills, five digs and hit .333 in the set for the Bearcats, while Semelroth had five kills and hit .667 in the set.
 
MATCH 2 – PARKSIDE 3, McKENDREE 1
In the tournament finale against Parkside, the Bearcats were outhit, .216 to .142 and the Rangers took advantage of 42 errors for the match to earn the four-set victory.
 
McKendree finished with 50 kills in the match as Binder led the way with 16 kills and added 15 digs for her fifth double-double of the season, while freshman outside hitter Lauren Harris (Woodlawn, Ill./Woodlawn) added 11 kills and hit .474 in the match.
 
Defensively, four Bearcats had double-digit digs as along with Binder's team-high 15, Williams and Berczynski each had 13 digs and Misner added 10 digs in the loss.
 
Harris and freshman middle blocker Hannah Kampwerth (Bartelso, Ill./Breese Central) each had three blocks for the Bearcats, while Williams tallied 38 assists.
 
Parkside (5-3) was paced by 14 kills from Reese Rossnagel and 13 kills from Ava Irwin. Lexi Packard was the third Ranger to record double-digit kills as she had 10 and hit .471. UWP's defense was led by 23 digs from Ellie Truckenbrod and eight blocks from Lindsay Krznarich.
 
The opening set belonged to Parkside as they opened to a 7-4 lead and led 17-10 when the Bearcats used a 3-0 run to pull within 18-13. That would be as close as the Bearcats would get as the Rangers closed the set on a 7-4 run to cap a 25-17 win. Parkside outhit the Bearcats, .250 to .050 in the set.
 
Parkside jumped in front 7-4 early in the second set and led 12-9 when the Bearcats responded with a 7-2 run to take a 16-14 lead. The run began and ended with service errors by the Rangers. The Bearcats lead grew to as much as 19-16 following an ace by Binder, before Parkside responded with a 5-0 run to take a 21-19 lead. After a kill by McIlhargie brought the Bearcats within a point at 21-20, UWP would close out the set by scoring four of the final seven points to post its 25-22 set win to take a 2-0 lead in the match. Parkside hit .250 with 14 kills in the set, while McK hit .167 with 11 kills in the set.
 
The Rangers scored the first four points of the set and jumped out to a 9-1 lead when the Bearcats responded with an 8-2 run capped by a kill from Harris to pull within 11-9. UWP would come right back and score four of the next five points to take a 15-10 lead, before McK used a 7-2 run to tie the set at 17-all. The run was capped by back-to-back kills from Misner and Williams. From that point, the two teams would take turns holding the lead until the Bearcats scored the final three points of the set to turn a 24-23 deficit into a 26-24 win to force a fourth set. In the set, Harris, Misner and Binder combined for 13 of McK's 17 kills in the set.
 
In the fourth set, the two teams would combine for nine ties and five lead changes. McK held a 9-6 lead early in the set, before Parkside used a 5-0 run capped by a kill from Lydia Biggin to take an 11-9 lead. From that point, McK used a 5-2 run to retake the lead at 14-13. Harris capped the run with two straight kills. That lead was shortlived as UWP responded with an 8-2 run to take a 21-16 lead. Following kills from Misner and Binder to pull the Bearcats within 21-18, Parkside would score four of the final seven points to cap the 25-21 both the set win and match victory. In the set, McK was outhit, .222 to .128. Harris had six kills and hit .455 in the set, while Irvin had five kills and hit .500 in the set.
 
UP NEXT
The Bearcats will open the home portion of its 2022 schedule next Friday, Sept. 9 as they host a non-conference tri-match at the Melvin Price Convocation Center with Great Lakes Valley Conference foes. nUMSL and Maryville. The Bearcats open the tri-match with an 11:30 a.m. match against UMSL, before UMSL and Maryville meet at 3:30 p.m. and the Bearcats conclude the tri-match with a 7:30 p.m. match against UMSL.