LEBANON, Ill. – McKendree's women's volleyball closes out the 2025 season in a sweeping fashion over the Cardinals of William Jewell on the Bearcats' Senior Day. The final scores were 25,14, 25-13, 25-21.

The Bearcats end the 2025 campaign with a 6-21 record overall, 4-9 in conference play.

The first set started with the Cardinals and Bearcats trading points back and forth, with neither team going on any runs to gather separation. With the score at 13-13, McKendree went on a seven-point run to give them a six-point advantage at 20-13. William Jewell ended this run with a kill from Wylie Singleton, but the Bearcats responded with a five-point run to end the set at 25-14 with senior outside Destiny Gray producing the final kill.

In the second set, McKendree went on an early six-point run to give them a six-point lead at 9-3 over the Cardinals. The next three-points were traded back and forth between the two teams followed by a three-point run by the Bearcats to widen the separation at 13-5. McKendree went on another run of four-points which placed the Bearcats 12 points ahead of William Jewell at 20-8. The Cardinals cut the deficit to 10 with back-to-back points, however McKendree answered with a three-point run to lead by 13 at 23-10. A service error by William Jewell gave the Bearcats set point and a kill from freshman setter Peyton Uptgraft ended the set, giving McKendree the 2-0 advantage going into the third set.

At the start of set three, McKendree and William Jewell traded points until the Bearcats went on a three-point run at 5-5 to give McKendree a little separation and a three-point lead at 8-5. From there, the play was back and forth with neither team going on runs. The Bearcats scored a few back-to-back points that helped give them a comfortable separation from the Cardinals, allowing McKendree to take the final set and match 25-21.

Outside hitter duo, graduate Emily-Kate Lonergan and Gray lead the offense on their Senior Day with 11 kills each. Lonergan notched a .400 hitting percentage, only committing one hitting error on 25 attempts. Freshman outside/opposite and sophomore middle blocker Avery Guisinger followed suit with seven and six kills, respectively. The offensive success can be credited to Uptgraft who tallied 29 assists setting up the Bearcats' offense.

Defensively, McKendree was led by senior libero Ashlyn Berczynski with 15 digs followed by Gray with 14. Freshman Bianca Galaviz added in 10 digs. At the net, Guisinger set the defensive tone with 4 blocks (1 Solo, 3 assists). Lonergan and Uptgraft each had a block assist to help seal the net.
 

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