LEBANON, Ill. – Coming off two sweeps from last week, the #11 Quincy University women's volleyball team faced off with the Bearcats of McKendree and the William Jewell Cardinals in the first GLVC Triangular of 2021 on Saturday (Feb. 20). QU dropped game one to McKendree in four sets then won game two over Jewell in four sets. 

Game 1
1st Set
McKendree struck first taking the first two points of the opening set, but the Hawks fought back with two kills from Emily Rehagen and a kill from Mattie Norris to draw things at 3 all. Shortly after, the Bearcats put together a five-point run handing them a 10-6 advantage that later grew to seven points, leading to McKendree taking set one 25-18. 

2nd Set
QU put together a run early in the second set after scoring four straight points with kills from Sarah Brown and Mattie Norris giving the Hawks a 5-2 lead. The Quincy offense hounded the Bearcats once again later in the set to the tune of five straight points sparked by a kill from setter Makayla Knoblauch and back-to-back service aces from Alaina Rothermich. The Hawks found themselves leading 10-4. MCK fought back to draw the set at 11 apiece and it remained a tit-for-tat game until the Hawks got clutch kills from Sarah Brown and Alaina Rothermich to stave off the set loss and even things at 24. Eventually, QU took the set, 29-27, off another kill from Rothermich and a set-ending kill by Alyssa Grimm drawing the match at one set each. 

3rd Set
McKendree put pressure on Quincy early and often in the third set and never gave up the lead after tying things at 1-1 early. The Hawks showed some resilience drawing within two points later in the set at 15-13, but it was all Bearcats the rest of the way. McKendree out-hit QU by over .250 in the set three 25-20 victory. 

4th Set 
The Hawks trailed wire to wire in a fourth set that saw them hit just .028 as a team. The Bearcats took the final set 25-16. 

Game 2

Just a couple short hours after their first match, the Quincy University women's volleyball team took the hardwood once again squaring off against the Cardinals of William Jewell College. The Hawks bounced back from the loss to McKendree by collecting the win over WJ in four sets 25-22, 21-25, 25-19, 25-17.

1st Set
The Hawks found themselves behind 5-2 to open the match, but two attacking errors and a kill from Mattie Norris along with an ace from Alaina Rothermich gave QU a 6-5 lead. Later in the set, another kill from Rothermich and an attacking error gave the Hawks a 16-11 advantage. The Cardinals fought back, drawing as close as one at 21-20, but two attacking errors and kills from Sarah Brown and Rothermich secured four of the last six points and a 25-22 set victory for the Hawks.

2nd Set

QU opened the second set with a 3-1 advantage after one of Mattie Norris' team leading 16 kills. William Jewell tied things up at six all and again at 10 apiece before putting together three and four-point runs that found the Cardinals leading 18-13. Quincy powered back on the heels of a three point run capped by two kills from Emily Rehagen. This cut the deficit to 18-16. The Hawks drew within one at 20-19, but Jewell finished by taking five of the last seven points to close out a 25-21 set win. 

3rd Set
Quincy started off hot in the third set. The Hawks began with a 6-3 lead off a three-point run early in the set. The Cardinals responded with a four-point run later in the set to take the lead at 12-10. Shortly after, the Hawks put together three points in a row capped by an ace from Mattie Norris for a 16-15 advantage. William Jewell tried to respond, but a seven-point run from QU proved to be the deciding factor in the Hawks 25-19 win. 

4th Set
The Cardinals dueled the Hawks to begin the fourth set in an effort to push the match to a fifth frame, but the QU offense was relentless. With the set knotted at nine all, Quincy put together a four point swing punctuated by an Emily Rehagen kill off a feed from setter Makayla Knoblauch. This was one of her 39 assists in the contest, and Quincy never looked back. The Hawks dominated the rest of the set for a 25-17 final set win. 

Up Next 
The Hawks suit up at Pepsi Arena next Sunday (Feb. 28) for two matches. The first against Southwest Baptist University at 10:00 a.m. and the nightcap showdown against the University of Illinois Springfield at 6:00 p.m.