ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – Lewis University's 21st ranked women's volleyball team wraps up its home slate this weekend hosting Southwest Baptist on Friday (Oct. 29) at 7 p.m. and Rockhurst on Saturday (Oct. 30) afternoon at 3 p.m. The Flyers will honor seniors Amanda Greening (Metamora, Ill./Metamora), Ava Venema (Westmont, Ill./Timothy Christian) and Jamie Poppen (Ballwin, Mo./Parkway West) after Friday's match and Saturday's match will be the fifth annual Playing for Preemies Match.

Fans attending Saturday's contest are encouraged to donate to the Rae Strong Foundation. For those who can't attend the match but would still like to donate can do so by clicking on the donations link at the top of this story. All money raised will be donated to Silver Cross Hospital who is building a Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) which is scheduled to open in 2022. This is a NICU that specializes in working with the smallest babies born and will be the first Level III NICU in Will County.

Fans who donate over $40 will receive a Rae Strong T-shirt. In addition, there will also be a 24-hour Bikeathon for Preemies, sponsored by Keleher Research Group, starting at 1 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 29. All proceeds from the Bikeathon will go to the Rae Strong Foundation.

The Rae Strong Foundation is named for Rae Friend, the daughter of Lewis head men's volleyball coach Dan Friend and Lewis head women's volleyball coach Lorelee Smith. The Rae Strong Foundation was created by Friend and Smith and its mission is to give support to Families of Micropreemies through financial and educational support. To learn more about the Rae Strong Foundation you can visit them online at https://raestrong.org.

About Southwest Baptist – The Bearcats enter Friday's contest Lewis with a record of 10-13 overall and are 5-7 in the GLVC after being swept by Quincy and Missouri-St. Louis last weekend.

SBU is hitting .204 on the season and averaging 12 kills per set. Ashley Lasher and Rachel Francis lead the way offensively for the Bearcats averaging 2.92 and 2.71 kills per set respectively. Loran Pritchett is the team's primary setter and is averaging 7.84 assists per set. Defensively, Francis and Sydney Ernsbarger are the team's top blockers with 62 and 54 total blocks respectively. Aleena Peterson is the leader on the backline averaging 3.56 digs per set.

About Rockhurst – The Hawks enter Friday's contest at Indianapolis with a record of 15-8 overall and are 8-3 in the GLVC. Rockhurst went 2-0 last weekend sweeping both Truman State and Quincy. The Hawks have a hitting percentage of .212 and are averaging 13 kills per set. Rockhurst is the top blocking team in the GLVC with 2.48 blocks per set.

Averi Vomastic leads the team with 3.23 kills per set while Justice Wingate and Morgan Conner are averaging 2.60 and 2.46 kills per set. Gabbie Inman and Sarah Montague have split time at the setter position with Inman handing out 5.38 assists per set while Montague is distributing 4.70 assists per set. Wingate leads the Hawks and is second in the conference with her 1.18 blocks per set. Maureen Reilly is the leader in the back averaging 4.80 digs per set.

Series Stuff – Friday's match is the second meeting all-time between Lewis and Southwest Baptist with the Flyers winning the first contest 3-0 in 2019. The two teams did not play last season.

Saturday's contest is the 27th meeting all-time between the Flyers and Hawks with Lewis leading the series 15-11. The Flyers won last season's matchup in Kansas City 3-1.

Up Next – Lewis begins a five-match road trip next Tuesday as it travels to Springfield, Ill., to take on Illinois Springfield at 7 p.m.