The William Jewell volleyball team saw their midseason skid continue on Tuesday night with a 3-0 loss to Rockhurst by scores of 25-18, 25-15, 25-19. Jewell drops to 9-8 overall and 3-4 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. The Hawks, who are receiving votes in the national polls, improve to 12-4 and 6-1 in league play. 

The Cardinals opened the match with a kill from Grace Miller before allowing the Hawks to open a 6-1 lead. Rockhurst maintained their lead but the Cards inched closer and closer, pulling within one at 12-11, before the Hawks went on another run. Head coach Carolyn Raynes called a timeout with her team trailing 21-15 after which Jewell scored three points but the deficit was too much as Rockhurst closed the set 25-18. The Cards managed a .323 attack percentage in the opening set but couldn't slow down the .425 mark of the Hawks. 

Set two began very similar to the first with a strong kill from Miller followed by a Rockhurst run. This time however the Hawks never let up as they took a 2-0 lead into the break with a 25-15 win. 

In the final set the Cardinals remained within striking distance until the very end, not allowing the Hawks to expand on more than a three point advantage for majority of the set. A late Rockhurst run forced a timeout by Jewell with the score at 21-15. The Cardinals went on a 5-2 run highlighted by kills from Leslie Booth and Madeline Johnson but a kill from RU's Mattie Gray ended the match 25-19.

After a strong opening set with minimal errors, the Cardinals hitting percentage dropped to just .155 for the match while the Hawks hit .317. Johnson led Jewell with eight kills on 14 attempts and just one error for a .500 clip. Paige Cunningham also totaled eight kills while Miller followed closely with seven. Olivia Tolberd collected 14 digs while Alix Weigel led the team with 17 assists. 

Jewell continues their long trip this weekend, with stops at Drury on Friday at 7:00 p.m. and Missouri S&T at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.