KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – The McKendree University women's volleyball rallied from a two-set deficit here Friday evening to force a fifth and deciding set against Truman State, but the Bulldogs would ultimately hang on for the five-set victory (21-25, 16-25, 25-19, 25-18, 14-16) over the Bearcats in Great Lakes Valley Conference action at Pershing Arena on the Truman State campus.
 
With the setback, McKendree drops its second straight match as they fall to 6-9 overall and 2-3 in the GLVC, while Truman State halted a 17-match losing streak that had dated to last season as they improved to 1-12 overall and 1-4 in the league.
 
Freshman outside hitter Lauren Harris (Woodlawn, Ill./Woodlawn) led McKendree with a career-high 19 kills on .233 hitting and came two digs shy of her first double-double as she tallied eight digs in the match. Senior middle blocker Claire Diercks (Higland, Ill./Highland) added eight kills, two blocks and hit a team-leading .389.
 
Truman's defense held McKendree's top two offensive players on the season – junior outside hitters Brianna Binder (Littleton, Colo./Dakota Ridge) and Colleen Preusser (St. Charles, Mo./Lutheran) – to a combined 11 kills and an -.075-attack percentage as Binder had six kills and hit .000, while Preusser had five kills and hit -.148.
 
Sophomore Amber Williams (Aurora, Colo./Rhodes College) posted her eighth double-double of the season with 44 assists and 12 digs.
 
McKendree's defense had 77 digs in the match, including a match-high tying 20 digs from freshman libero Ashlyn Berczynski (Minooka, Ill./Minooka). Berczynski also had a match-high four aces as the Bearcats had six aces for the match.
 
Preusser and Binder, though, did combine for 24 digs as Preusser had 14 and Binder posted 10 in the loss.
 
The Bearcats were outblocked, 9-6 for the match as freshman outside hitter Destiny Gray (Oswego, Ill./Oswego) had three blocks and added three kills in her most extensive action of the season as she played three of the five sets.
 
Truman State got 12 kills from Hanna Berry, while Annabella Crowder added 11 kills and Allison Beaton had 10 kills and three blocks. Ainsley Heise and Monica Brown each had four blocks for the Bulldogs and Beaton added three blocks, while Lexi Arnel had 20 digs in the win.
 
As a team, McKendree was outhit .101 to Truman's .168 and the teams combined for 90 errors on the night as McKendree had 48 errors, including seven service errors and Truman State had 42 errors, including 12 service errors.
 
Set 1
In the first set, Truman jumped out to a 9-6 lead early in the set, before the Bearcats responded with a 10-6 run capped by an attack error by the Bulldogs to take a 16-15 lead. The Bearcats would push its lead to 19-17, before TSU used a 5-0 run to take a 23-20 lead. Kills from Binder and Preusser brought the Bearcats within 23-21, before back-to-back kills from Rachel DeFries and Jessica Proszenyak capped TSU's 25-21 set win.
 
Truman State hit .297 and had 16 kills in the first set, while McKendree had 12 kills and hit .158.
 
Set 2
The second set belonged to the Bulldogs as they jumped out to a 10-4 lead and led 15-9 when the Bearcats took advantage to two TSU errors to push within 15-11. That would be as close as the Bearcats would get as the Bulldogs closed the set on a 10-5 run to cap a 25-16 win to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
 
Truman hit .216 in the set and held the Bearcats to a negative attack percentage (-.082).
 
Set 3
Trailing 2-0 in the match, the Bearcats got things going in the third set as they hit .242 and had 13 kills, including a combined eight kills from Harris (5) and sophomore outside hitter Emma McIlhargie (Birch Run, Mich./Birch Run) (3). McKendree scored 11 points off of Truman errors, including three service errors. TSU hit .073 with eight kills.
 
In the set, McK jumped out to an early 7-4 lead, before TSU responded with a 5-3 run to pull within 10-9. The Bearcats would answer back with a 7-3 run capped by three straight errors from TSU to take a 17-12 lead.
 
The Bulldogs wouldn't go away as they used a 6-5 run to pull within 22-18. McK, though, would score three of the final four points and capped the 25-19 win with a kill from Diercks.
 
Set 4
The fourth set featured six ties and four lead changes as McK jumped out to an early 8-5 lead, but the Bulldogs responded with a 9-3 run to take a 14-11 lead. That run seemed to ignite the Bearcats as they scored eight straight points, including three aces from Berczynski and two kills from Gray to take a 19-14 lead.
 
TSU would make one more run as they used a 4-2 run to pull within 21-18, but McK would cap the set by scoring the final four points with two of those four points coming on kills from Diercks, including a kill to cap the 25-18 set win to force a fifth and deciding set.
 
In the set, McK outhit TSU, .146 to .077 and Harris had six of McKendree's 13 kills in the set.
 
Set 5
McKendree jumped out to an early 3-1 lead in the fifth set, before TSU used a 7-2 run to take an 8-5 lead. The lead would eventually grow to 14-10 for the Bulldogs, but the Bearcats wouldn't go away as an attack error made its 14-11 and then a kill by junior middle blocker Lauren McCurley (Troy, Ill./Triad) brought McK within 14-12. Gray would record a block on the next point to bring the Bearcats within 14-13 and then an ace by Binder tied the set a 14-all. But the Bulldogs would take advantage to back-to-back errors by the Bearcats to seal the 16-14 win and earn their first win of the season.
 
In the the final set, TSU hit .189 with nine kills, while McK hit .111 with eight kills, including two kills each from Harris, McCurley and McIlhargie.
 
Up Next
The Bearcats look to rebound in a little less than 24 hours as they conclude the weekend road trip with a 4 p.m. GLVC match in Liberty, Mo., on Saturday, Oct. 1 against William Jewell.