ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – Lewis University's 13th ranked women's volleyball team wraps up the first half of Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) play with a pair of matches in the Show Me State this weekend. The Flyers take on Drury on Friday evening at 7 p.m. and then head to Rolla on Saturday for a 3 p.m. contest against the Miners.

Lewis extended its winning streak to eight with a come from behind victory over Illinois Springfield 3-2 on Tuesday evening at Neil Carey Arena. Junior middle blocker Farah Taki (North Aurora, Ill./West Aurora) provided a spark off the bench for the Flyers recording a career-high 13 kills in the contest. Lewis had four players reach double figures in kills in the contest led by junior right-side hitter Juliana Van Loo's (Burbank, Calif./John Burroughs) career-high 21 kills.

AVCA Rankings – The Flyers moved up a spot to 13th in this week's AVCA Division II Poll and is the lone representative from the GLVC in the Top 25. Rockhurst is in the receiving votes category this week.

League Leaders – Fifth-year senior libero Jamie Poppen (Ballwin, Mo./Parkway West) leads the conference in digs with 5.98 per set while sophomore setter Lauren Stenman (Maplewood, Minn./North St. Paul) holds the top spot in assists with 10.42 per set. Fifth-year senior middle blocker Ava Venema (Westmont, Ill./Timothy Christian) is third in the league in hitting percentage (.377) and kills per set with 3.45. Sophomore middle blocker Bella Ray (Plainfield, Ill./Joliet Catholic) is sixth in the conference in blocks at 1.02 per set.

As a team, the Flyers are first in hitting percentage, opponent hitting percentage, kills per set and assists per set. They rank second in digs per set, fifth in blocks per set and sixth in service aces per set.

Balanced Attack – Lewis has six players averaging at least 2.00 kills per set this season led by Venema with 3.45. Junior outside hitter Megan Schlechte (Strasburg, Ill./Stewardson-Strasburg) and sophomore outside hitter Natalie Stefanski (Plainfield, Ill./Joliet West) are second and third at 2.69 and 2.53 per set while Van Loo is at 2.52 per set. Ray is fifth with 2.05 per set and senior outside hitter Amanda Greening (Metamora, Ill./Metamora) is averaging 2.00 kills per set.

About Drury – The Panthers enter Friday's match with a record of 10-6 overall but are 3-4 in GLVC competition and are coming off a straight sets loss at Quincy on Tuesday evening. They're 4-4 in their last eight matches.
Drury is averaging 12.01 kills per set and are led by Makina Wratten with 2.29 per set and Taylor Forth at 2.14 per set. Gabby Birmingham is the team's primary setter and is distributing 6.47 assists per set.

On the defensive side the Panthers are led by Wratten along the front line with 1.10 blocks per set while Emma Fox anchors the backline averaging 3.95 digs per set.

About Missouri S&T – The Miners enter Friday's match against Illinois Springfield with a record of 11-4 and sit atop the GLVC West Division with a record of 5-2. They saw their three-match winning streak snapped on Tuesday evening with a straight sets loss at GLVC Central Division leader Missouri-St. Louis.

S&T is averaging 12.9 kills per set and has an attack percentage of .197. It's led by the duo of Payton Gannaway and Jordan Burton who are averaging 3.70 and 3.43 kills per set respectively. Hannah Merjil leads the team with 7.42 assists per set while Kiernan O'Boyle is averaging 1.25 blocks per set and Meiko Pearson leads the way on the back line with 3.54 digs per set.

Series Stuff – Lewis leads the all-time series against Drury 18-2 and has won three straight matches and 18 of the last 19 overall. Last season the Flyers defeated the Panthers in straight sets at Truman State. This will be the 11th meeting all-time in Springfield where Lewis has won nine of 10 contests.

Saturday's contest marks the 18th meeting all-time between the Flyers and Miners with Lewis holding a 13-4 advantage. Last season the two sides split a pair of matches with Lewis rallying to defeat the Miners 3-2 at Maryville on March 20 and a month later S&T defeated the Flyers in the semifinals of the GLVC Tournament at East Peoria, Ill. Lewis is 7-1 all-time in matches played in Rolla.

Up Next – The Flyers will take a break from conference play and will compete in the 13th annual Midwest Region Crossover next weekend at the Hammond Sportsplex and Community Center in Hammond, Ind. This year's Crossover features 15 teams from the GLVC, 12 teams from the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC) and 11 teams from the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC). Pairings for next weekend's event will be announced after conclusion of league matches this weekend.