KANSAS CITY, Mo.- The 13th ranked Drury Panthers had their come-from-behind effort fall short in a 3-1 loss at Rockhurst (28-26, 25-12, 23-25, 26-24) on Friday in Kansas City, Missouri.
 
The Panthers ended their regular season with a 25-5 record overall and 15-3 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. Drury's lead in the GLVC was cut to a half-game as second-place teams Lewis, and Illinois Springfield both picked up wins on Friday.
 
Rockhurst improved to 25-6 and 13-4 in the league.
 
Drury trailed through most of the opening set but rallied from six points down to have a set-point leading 24-23. The Hawks battled back, though, and took the first set 28-26, then blasted the Panthers 25-12 in the second.
 
Drury forced a fourth set winning the third 25-23 and owned a 23-21 lead in the fourth before Rockhurst won five of the next six points to clinch the match, 26-24.
 
Emmalee Chrest led the Panthers with 16 kills. Taylor Forth had 10 kills and nine block assists while Kendra Sater had a double-double with 45 assists and 18 digs. Bree Schmidt had a team-high 25 digs.
 
Emma Kriete led a balanced Rockhurst attack with 18 kills and 16 digs.
 
Drury can still clinch the GLVC regular season championship outright with a loss from Lewis and Illinois Springfield on Saturday. Lewis plays at Truman State on Saturday while Illinois Springfield is at Bellarmine. The Panthers will finish the year at least in a first-place tie. 
 
Drury's next game will be in the quarterfinal round of the GLVC tournament on Thursday, Nov. 8 at the Eastside Centre in East Peoria, Illinois. 
 
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