FIRST SERVE
William Jewell volleyball opens Great Lakes Valley Conference action with a split weekend, traveling to Southwest Baptist on Friday before hosting Drury on Saturday afternoon.
FOLLOW THE CARDINALS
You can follow the Cardinals all season across the team's various social media platforms. Find the team on Instagram and Twitter with the handle @WJCVolleyball. On Facebook, search for William Jewell Volleyball.
SERIES HISTORY
The Cardinals meet Southwest Baptist for the 11th time in the NCAA era, having won four of the first 10 meetings, but will look for their first victory over the Bearcats since October 12, 2019.
Jewell hosts the 20th meeting with Drury, looking to win their first match over the Panthers since October 10, 2015. Overall the Cardinals are 2-17 against DU in the NCAA era.
LET'S RECAP
The Cardinals are coming off a four set loss to Pittsburg State out of the MIAA on Tuesday. Jewell came out of the gates hot, taking the opening set before dropping the next two. Down 14-5 in the fourth, the Cards made a furious rally, eventually taking a 25-24 lead but couldn't hold on, falling 27-25 and 3-1. Bella LaPorta led the way with 15 kills with Samantha Thompson had a double-double of 15 digs, 15 assists.
OFFENSIVE IMPROVEMENT
The Cardinal offense has seen immense improvement this season in the early going, currently ranked in the top-10 in Division II in total kills (seventh) and total assists (fourth). Jewell's 610 kills in 2022 is nearly half of the team's total from all of last season. After finishing 2021 hitting .164 as a team, the Cardinals have consistently hit above .200. Bella LaPorta leads the offensive charge with 3.79 kills per set and 178 total, sixth best in Division II.
FRESHMEN IMPACT
Two freshmen have made immediate impact on the Cardinal lineup in Drew Baxter and Alex Dvorak. The duo is getting a baptism by fire which will continue entering GLVC play. Baxter boasts 4.53 assists per set, second on the squad and is coming off a season best 22 assists against Pittsburg State. Meanwhile Dvorak is among the top players in the league in attack percentage (sixth) and total blocks (fifth) with a season best 15 kills against Northern Michigan and eight blocks at Missouri Southern.
BAADE CLOSING IN ON MILESTONE
Libero Haidan Baade is inching towards a career milestone, sitting 103 digs from 1,000 entering the week, and would become the fourth Cardinal of the NCAA era to reach the plateau. The senior is currently leading the GLVC and is 25th nationally with 209 total digs and ranked fourth in the GLVC with 4.45 digs per set this season having moved into sixth in the NCAA era in total career digs, surpassing Alix Weigel (2014-17). Trailing not far behind is junior Jordan Collard who moved into a tie for 10th with Kelsey Moffitt (2010-13) in the NCAA era with 656 digs.
50 YEARS OF WOMEN'S VARSITY SPORTS
The 2022-2023 academic year marks the 50th anniversary of Title IX and the 50th year of women's varsity sports of the William Jewell campus. Volleyball was one of the original five sports, joining basketball, tennis, swimming and field hockey. Jewell will be celebrating the growth and accomplishments of women's athletics throughout the year, headlined by an all-women's Hall of Fame class, to be inducted on September 23 which includes the 1981 volleyball team which was the first women's team to win a conference championship in school history.
