FIRST SERVE
William Jewell volleyball jumps back into Great Lakes Valley Conference play this weekend with stops at two schools in the University of Missouri system, Missouri S&T and Missouri-St. Louis.
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 Missouri S&T for the 20th time in the NCAA era this weekend, looking for their first win over the Miners since 2018. Last year, Jewell fell in five highly contested sets.
Jewell is 4-9 against UMSL in the NCAA era. The last win over the Tritons came in 2018 in a five set thriller. Last season struggled offensively, hitting .100, falling in three.
LET'S RECAP
The Cardinals are coming off a five set loss to Emporia State. Jewell rallied in set four to win 26-24 and force the fifth set but fell 15-7 in the finale. Anna Godfredsen tied her carere high with 15 kills while Bella LaPorta added 15 to go with a career high 24 digs (tie) and two aces. Samantha Thompson added 30 assists and a career high 16 digs.
CARDINAL NOTES
Haidan Baade continues to reach closer to the 1,000 digs plateau. The senior needs just 40 to join Olivia Tolberd (2015-18), Katie Damgar (2011-13) and Stefanie Richterkessing (2015-18) as the members of the 1,000 Digs Club. With her 18 on Tuesday she surpassed Kaylee Marquardt (2012-15) for fourth in the NCAA era and entered the week ranked third in the GLVC with 4.46 digs per set and tops with 272 total.
As a team, the Cardinal offense has been at its best this season as they are atop of the GLVC in total kills (775), assists (744) and digs (1,011) while ranking second in blocks (108). Jewell is hitting 43 points higher through the first half of the season compared to 2021, while averaging more than two digs, two assists and one kill per set higher than last season.
The setting core has put up 744 assists through the first 15 games of 2022, which not only leads the league but is also best in Division II. The Cardinals do not have an individual setter in the top 75 nationally as most of the work is done by committee. Samantha Thompson averages 6.28 per set, sixth in the GLVC, followed by Drew Baxter at 4.46 and Hannah Cope with 1.68.
Bella LaPorta continues to make her presence known this season, leading the conference and ranking seventh in Division II with 215 total kills for an average of 3.52 per set. The sophomore has is nine shy of surpassing her total from all of last season and has raised her kills per set average by more than 1.5 over last year.
Jewel will look to snap a four-game skid, their longest streak of the season. The Cardinals have had two, five set matches during that stretch and have been swept only once this year.
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 Friday which includes the 1981 volleyball team which was the first women's team to win a conference championship in school history.
