The William Jewell volleyball team snapped a nine game losing skid with a big win over Drury University on Saturday afternoon at the Mabee Center, 25-22, 25-21, 19-25, 25-16. With the win the Cardinals move 5-13 overall and get their first Great Lakes Valley Conference win of the season (1-8).
The Cardinals came out on fire opening the match with a 6-0 run, forcing Jenifer Bahner to call a timeout. Drury pulled within 15-14, but Jewell managed to keep the Panthers at bay just long enough. With the score 24-20 Drury put together a run before a
Kaylee Marquardt slammed the ball home out of a time to put the set away, 25-23.
Raechel Meisinger came out on fire with six kills in the opening set to lead Jewell who hit .250 with two blocks in the first frame.
Set two was even better for the Cardinals as they hit .293 with 15 kills and just three errors. A back-and-forth set majority of the way, Jewell managed to build a 19-14 lead late, and never looked back taking the second 25-21.
Drury took the third set, coming out strong after the intermission. The Panthers opened up a 4-1 lead only to see Jewell crawl back into the game. Behind a strong blocking game DU took the set 25-19.
As well as the Cardinals had played all day, set four by far was the best. Opening with a 9-4 lead on the back of strong serving from
Alix Weigel and
Olivia Tolberd Drury was forced to call an early timeout. While Jewell hit a game-high .314, the Panthers struggled to a low of .030 committing seven errors in the set to help Jewell to the 25-16 set victory, and in turn, the match.
Senior
Kaylee Marquardt shined in the final set, with six of her season-high 17 kills. On the day Marquardt hit an outstanding .400, committing just three errors. Meisinger also got back to her early season self putting up 15 kills on 37 attempts to along with three service aces.
Paige Cunningham added a career-high nine kills and was a force along the net with six blocks. Freshman
Stefanie Richterkessing also added a career-high 43 assists in the match while
Emily Burton chipped in six kills.
Defensively Jewell was outstanding with 77 total digs, including three players in double-figures led by Tolberd's 21 along with Weigel's 16, and Richterkesssing with 14.
Up next, Jewell will take a break from GLVC play as they travel to Wayne State College (NE) for a matchup on Wednesday, October 13 at 7:00 p.m., followed by a trip to the GLVC/GLIAC Crossover Tournament next weekend in Aurora, Ill.
