LEBANON, Ill. – McKendree women's volleyball (0-1, 0-0 GLVC), fell in its season opener to Harding (1-0, 0-0 GAC) in three-sets by a score of 27-25, 25-18, 25-13 in the second game of the McKendree Invitational Thursday night.
In the stat column, the Bison and Bearcats were closely contested in many categories. Harding narrowly edged out McKendree in digs with 52 compared to the 48 on the Bearcat side. The Bison also had the advantage in kills, 42, and assists, 38, alongside the McKendree 32 kill and 31 assists. The Bearcats did overcome the Bison in the blocks column, getting four compared to the Harding two.
Individually, the Bearcats were led offensively by sophomore Madelyn Clarke with nine kills. Freshman Reece Distler was right on her heels with eight kills. Doing much of the assisting was sophomore Peyton Uptgraft and junior Madison Wojdyla who had a combined 26 assists. Behind the service line, junior Paige Parant and sophomore Corinne Leech each had a service ace.
Defensively, Leech led the team in digs with 10. Parant was right behind her with eight digs of her own, Uptgraft and Distler each had six digs to contribute to the total. Freshman Ilana Reeder led in blocks with two, Clarke and graduate student Mackenzie Yoakum each earned a block in the contest.
McKendree looks to bounce back tomorrow with a matchup against Northwest Missouri State at 7:00 p.m. at the Melvin Price Convocation Center.
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