Quincy, Ill. - It was a day of celebration in Pepsi Arena as the Hawks hosted McKendree for their final home match of the season on Saturday (Nov. 9). Senior Day, a four set victory (25-15, 25-22, 23-25, 25-18) over the Bearcats and a new program record for kills in a single season for Emma Wijnbergen in what could be her last match on the home hardwood highlighted a stellar close to the home slate for the women's volleyball team. 

Thanks to a 26-kill afternoon, Wijnbergen captured her program record 503rd kill of the season on her 11th kill of the match, adding 15 more terminations before the matches' conclusion to sit atop the Hawks record book at 518 kills and counting at the time of this writing. 

Set One 

After falling behind 3-2 to open the match, a seven-point QU run put the Hawks in fine position early in the set up 9-3 thanks to a trio of kills and a block from Wijnbergen along with a kill from Erin Matzke and MCK errors. 

Shortly after, a three-point Bearcats run pulled McKendree to within three at 10-7 before Quincy answered with a three-point run of it's own on two kills from Susanna Beretti and another from Zeynep Cetin to pull ahead 13-7. 

McKendree never drew closer than five points for the remainder of the set as QU was able to stretch the advantage to double digits at 22-12 before going on to take the set by a 25-15 score. 

Set Two 

After an even split of the first 10 points of the set, the sides traded long stays at the service stripe, first with a four-point run from the Hawks, then prompting a four-point response from the Bearcats to make it 9-9. QU answered with five-straight only to be met by another four-point MCK run to make it 14-13. 

McKendree was able to work the tally back to a tie at 16-16 with a three-point run, evening the score once again at 18-18, but was never able to get over the hump as the Hawks stayed solid down the stretch, taking four of the next five points to build a 22-19 advantage before going on to take the set 25-22. 

Set Three

The Bearcats got off to a fast start in the third set, opening up a 5-2 lead before using a six-point run later in the set to build a 14-6 edge.

A four-point QU run shortly after narrowed the deficit to 16-11 as the Hawks hung with five points until a pair of three-point runs late in the set brought life to the Quincy comeback and evened the tally at 23-23. Despite the strong effort, the final two points went in favor of McKendree for a 25-23 win to press the match to a fourth set. 

Set Four 

The Hawks took the first three points of the set on the way to building a 9-3 advantage to open the frame. Shortly after at 14-8, runs of four and two points drew the Bearcats back within a point at 15-14. 

It was all Quincy from that point on as a five-point run from the home side replenished the advantage to 20-14 and gave the Hawks the opening they needed to go on and take the set 25-18 and match 3-1 to finish the season undefeated in Pepsi Arena going 11-0 at home. 

Stat Leaders: 
26 Kills,1 Block, 2 Aces - Emma Wijnbergen
52 Assists, 2 Aces - Elena Kasavica
1 Block - Luna Van Baars, Zeynep Cetin
27 Digs, 2 Aces - Susanna Beretti

Next Up 

The Hawks destiny is in their own hands with just two matches remaining in the regular season as QU (10-1 GLVC) travels to Lewis (9-2 GLVC) on Friday evening (Nov. 15) before taking on UINDY (7-4 GLVC) on Saturday afternoon (Nov. 16) with an opportunity to claim the title of Champions of the GLVC for the regular season with a pair of wins.