The William Jewell Volleyball team dropped a Great Lakes Valley Conference contest to No. 23 Rockhurst on Tuesday evening in the Mabee Center. The Cardinals fell by scores of 25-22, 25-16, 25-13 and drops to 11-19 overall and 4-12 in the GLVC. 

In all three sets, Jewell kept pace with the Hawks early before faltering late in the set. The Cards hit .130 on the night with four blocks but couldn't slow down RU's hot attack as the Hawks posted a .385 attack percentage. 

Jewell came out of the gate hot, grabbing a quick 8-3 lead behind two kills from Raechel Meisinger. Rockhurst recovered to score eight consecutive points, aided by five Cardinal errors to take an 11-8 lead. Two kills from Jenna Rau helped Jewell pull back within one at 13-12 while a Hawk error tied the game 15. The Cardinals continued to hang with the nationally ranked Hawks but a 4-2 swing favored Rockhurst and sealed the set 25-22. Jewell hit .263 in the opener led by four kills from Rau.

In set two Jewell fell behind early 5-2 but rallied to pull within two at 13-11. Rockhurst followed with a rally of their own and scored six of the remaining eight points and took the set 25-16.

Set three saw Jewell again take an early lead at 4-2 behind two more kills from Meisinger before Rockhurst strung together a 5-2 run and regained the lead at 9-7. The teams traded points before a 7-2 run by the Hawks gave them a 20-12 advantage and forced a timeout from Carolyn Raynes. A kill from Rau scored a point for the Cardinals but the Hawks scored the final five points to take the set 25-13 and the match 3-0.

Overall, Jewell was led by Meisinger and Rau with seven kills a piece while Grace Miller added six on a .385 attack percentage. Stefanie Richterkessing led the Cardinals with 12 digs, while Olivia Tolberd finished with 11, and Kennedy Ruckh ten. 

Up next for Jewell is the final two matches of the season, both in the Mabee Center, on Friday night against Truman State and Saturday afternoon opposite Quincy.