The William Jewell Volleyball team dropped two matches on Saturday afternoon on the final day of the Country Inn & Suites Invitational. The Cards were swept at the hands of the host team Sioux Falls, 18-25, 15-25, 15-25. Against Fort Hays State, Jewell rallied from two sets down to force a fifth set but ultimately dropped their second match of the day, 17-25, 13-25, 26-24, 32-30, 4-15. The Cardinals now stand at 1-3 on the young season.

HOW IT HAPPENED
    Sioux Falls

• SET ONE: The Cards fell behind early and trailed by as many as eight (23-15) before scoring three consecutive points on kills from Raechel Meisinger and Jenna Rau but dropped the set 25-18.
• SET TWO: In set two it was the Cardinals who jumped out to the early advantage only to see the Cougars score 11 of the next 13 points and take a 19-13 lead. Jewell could not recover and scored just two points more and fell 25-15. 
• SET THREE: In the final set USF went 11-1 run to take a commanding 12-5 lead early. The Cardinals could not recover from the early whole as they fell 25-15.

    Fort Hays State

• SET ONE: Fort Hays went on a 7-1 run to go up by points at 15-11 and ultimately took the set 25-17. 
• SET TWO: The Cardinals responded to the set one loss well, coming out firing on their way to an early 12-1 lead by three kills from Grace Miller. From there it was all Tigers as they returned the unfortunate favor, rattling off 23 consecutive points to take the set 25-13. 
• SET THREE: The two teams went back-and-forth much of the set before kills by Meisinger and Elizabeth Quinn gave Jewell took the set 26-24 to avoid the sweep.
• SET FOUR: The Tigers came out with an early four point lead and looked as though they would run away with the set before the Cards crawled their way back to tie the set at 15. The set would go back-and-forth again with neither team gaining more than a two point advantage at once. Jewell eventually took the set 32-30 after a Tiger error and Miller kill.
• SET FIVE: After the high of forcing the fifth set the Cardinals could not get on track in the finale falling behind by as many as ten at 13-3 before falling 15-4 and 3-2 on the match.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Opposite Sioux Falls Jewell managed just 28 total kills compared to 43 by the home team. 
• Against the Tigers, Jewell never managed to get on track offensively hitting a dismal .036 with the top clip coming in the third set at .136. 
• Despite the loss, the Cards blocked exceptionally well with 13 team blocks led by Miller's career high of nine. 

LEADERS OF THE FLIGHT

• Quinn posted a career high 14 kills opposite Fort Hays State and averaged 2.19 kills per set through the first four matches of her career.
• Paige Cunningham combined to collected 16 kills and 20 digs over the two matches.
• Olivia Tolberd continued to lead the defense with 34 digs combined, including 22 against the Tigers.
• Miller was exceptional on the net posting 12 blocks, including nine opposite Fort Hays.
• Rau also collected seven blocks on the day.

YOU SHOULD NOTE

• For her exceptional play on the weekend, senior middle blocker Miller was named to the Country Inn & Suites All-Tournament Team.
• Tolberd upped her streak to 33 consecutive games with double-digit digs.
• Megan Rhule posted her first career double-double with 13 assists and ten digs against Fort Hays State while playing in four sets.

UP NEXT
Jewell returns to the court next Friday and Saturday as they travel to the Missouri S&T Middle of Everywhere Classic in Rolla, Mo.