ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – Heading into the final weekend of the regular season Lewis University's 20th ranked women's volleyball team looks to clinch its second straight Great Lakes Valley Conference regular season championship with one win in its final two matches. The Flyers will take on McKendree on Friday evening at 7 p.m. in Lebanon, Ill., and then will travel to Evansville, Ind., to take on Southern Indiana on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m.
Last Time Out – Lewis went 3-0 on the road last week. It opened the week with a four-set win at Illinois Springfield last Tuesday, then swept Truman State last Friday and rallied to defeat Missouri-St. Louis 3-1 on Saturday afternoon to clinch at least a share of the regular season title and the number one seed in the GLVC Tournament next weekend (Nov. 19-21) in East Peoria, Ill.
Race For the GLVC Tournament – Heading into the final weekend of play there is still a lot up for grabs to qualify for the GLVC Tournament. Lewis, Missouri-St. Louis and Rockhurst are the current division leaders but Missouri S&T is only a half game behind the Hawks for the top spot in the West Division and those two teams will play on Friday evening In Rolla, Mo. There is a lot at stake for the final five spots with seven teams vying for those slots and are only separated by a couple of matches.
It's Still Poppen – Jamie Poppen (Ballwin, Mo./Parkway West) won her fourth GLVC Defensive Player of the Week of the season and eighth of her career this past Monday. The fifth-year senior libero leads the GLVC in total digs with 600 and digs per set (6.19). She ranks seventh in Division II in total digs and ninth in digs per set.
Helping Hand – The Flyers are tied for second in Division II in set assists this season with Drury with 1,350 and trail only West Florida who has 1,382 set assists.
Lauren Stenman (Maplewood, Minn./North St. Paul) leads the conference in assists per set with 11.14 and is second in total assists with 1,081. She is fifth in Division II total assists and 10th in assists per set.
Going for the Kill – Lewis leads the GLVC in kills per set with 14.85 per set and is third in Division II. The Flyers are second in the conference and fourth nationally in total kills with 1,455.
Ava Venema (Westmont, Ill./Timothy Christian) and
Juliana Van Loo (Burbank, Calif./John Burroughs) rank fourth and fifth in the conference in kills per set with 3.26 and 3.24 respectively.
NCAA Regional Rankings – The top six remained unchanged in this week's NCAA Midwest Regional Rankings with Michigan Tech, Ferris State, Hillsdale, Lewis, Missouri-St. Louis and Grand Valley continuing to hold down the top six spots. Wayne State (Mich.) checks in at seven followed by Missouri S&T at eight, Rockhurst is ninth and Southern Indiana enters the rankings at 10. The Midwest Regional will take place on Dec. 2-4 at a site to be determined.
About McKendree – The Bearcats enter Friday's contest with a record of 8-18, 4-10 GLVC and have lost three straight. McKendree traveled to Indianapolis on Tuesday evening where it was defeated in four sets.
The Bearcats are averaging 11.9 kills per set and are hitting .142 as a team this season. They're led by Brianna Binder whose averaging 2.9 kills per set while Colleen Preusser is contributing 2.51 per set. Macy Tongate and Catie Shane split time at the setter position with Tongate handing out 9.05 asssists per set and Shane is dishing out 7.5 per set.
Defensively, Lauren McCurley and Kristen Vacca led the way on the front line with 0.78 blocks per set while on the back line Skyler Sieber leads the way with 3.29 digs per set.
About Southern Indiana – The Screaming Eagles enter Saturday's contest with a record of 17-11, 11-6 GLVC and have won two straight after defeating Illinois Springfield in straight sets on Tuesday evening at Screaming Eagle Arena. USI has been tough in their building this year going 11-1 heading into Saturday's regular season finale. The Screaming Eagles clinched a spot in next weekend's conference tournament and are currently a five seed.
USI is averaging 12.9 kills per set and are hitting .205 as team. Abby Bednar and Leah Anderson pace the Screaming Eagle attack averaging 2.93 and 2.70 kills per set respectively. Casey Cepicky is the squad's primary setter and is averaging 9.19 assists per set.
On the defensive side, Sidney Hegg leads USI with 1.01 blocks per set while Taylor Litteken is averaging 0.88 blocks per set. On the back line, Callie Gubera is averaging 4.05 digs per set.
Series Stuff – Friday's contest marks the 15th meeting all-time between Lewis and McKendree with the Flyers having 12 of the first 14 matchups and have won six straight in the series. Earlier this season, Lewis defeated the Bearcats 3-0 on Sept. 24 in Romeoville.
The Flyers lead the all-time series against Southern Indiana 38-13 and have won nine of the last 11 contests including a 3-1 win over the Screaming Eagles earlier this season at Neil Carey Arena. Lewis has won 10 of the last 11 meetings in Evansville.
Up Next – The Flyers will compete in the GLVC Tournament next Friday-Sunday at the Eastside Centre in East Peoria, Ill.