INDIANAPOLIS, Ind.- The 12th ranked Drury Panthers completed an undefeated stint in the Mizuno Midwest Region Crossover Tournament as they won their third match of the event with a 3-2 win over fifth-ranked Ferris State (25-19, 23-25, 25-17, 17-25, 15-11) on Saturday in Indianapolis, Indiana.
 
Drury improved to 20-3 while the Bulldogs fell to 19-4 with two of their losses coming against the Panthers.
 
In the opening set, Drury and Ferris State were even at 18-18 before the Panthers won seven of the next eight points to take a 1-0 lead in the match. The Bulldogs evened the game after winning the second set 25-23, but Drury responded with a 25-17 win in the third. Ferris State forced a fifth set after taking the fourth 25-17. The Panthers built a 12-7 lead in the final set and held off the Bulldogs to win 15-11.
 
Bentley Mara led Drury with 21 kills and the senior from Harrison, Arkansas added 21 digs, a solo block, and three block assists. Emmalee Chrest added 16 kills and three service aces while Kendra Sater had 46 assists and 11 digs. Bree Schmidt chipped in with 22 digs while Taylor Forth had a solo block and five block assists.
 
During Saturday's match, Mara picked up her 1,000th career kill becoming the 13th player in program history to surpass the milestone. She ended the game with 1,009 career kills and has 309 so far this season. 

Katie O'Connell had a game-high 24 kills for Ferris State.
 
The win marked the Panthers second victory over Ferris State this season. Drury defeated the Bulldogs, who were ranked fourth in the nation at the time, 3-1 on Aug. 31 in Lakeland, Florida. Saturday's win was the Panthers seventh victory against a top 25 team this season, and Drury is 7-2 this year against ranked opponents.
 
Drury's 3-0 record in the Crossover tournament marks the third time the Panthers have gone through the event undefeated but this year was the first time in the 11-year history of the competition that Drury has entered it as the top seed from the Great Lakes Valley Conference. In this year's tournament, the Panthers defeated the first place team from the Great Midwest Athletic Conference, Hillsdale (3-1 on Friday), the leader in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in Saturday's win over Ferris State, and Drury took down Wayne State 3-0, the fifth-place team in the GLIAC on Friday. The Panthers previously went undefeated in the Crossover tournament in 2014 and 2012.
 
Drury returns to conference play on Friday when they travel to Bellarmine. Game time is 6 p.m. (Central) in Louisville, Kentucky.
 
 
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