SPRINGFIELD, Mo.- The 22nd ranked Drury Panthers took down another top 25 opponent and picked up their second conference win with a 3-1 victory (25-12, 23-25, 25-21, 25-21) over 8th ranked Rockhurst on Saturday at the O'Reilly Family Event Center in Springfield.
 
Drury improved to 8-2 and 2-0 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference as they notched their fifth win this season over a ranked team with three of victories coming against opponents in the top 10. Rockhurst fell to 9-2 and 1-1 in the league.
 
After a dominant first set that saw the Panthers win 25-12, the Hawks responded to even the match winning the second set 25-23. Drury took the third and fourth sets by a 25-21 score.
 
"In the intermission between sets two and three, we talked about managing our energy and emotions better," said Panthers head coach Jenifer Bahner. "That first set was awesome - we came out with so much fire, but that's really hard to maintain. We also got back to our blocking and our defense. We lost our dig count in that second set, and I thought we got more consistent in our block once we got to the third."
 
Bentley Mara had 19 kills and 11 digs for Drury while Emmalee Chrest added 18 kills. Evan Larson had 6.5 total blocks, and her 11 block assists were the second most in a single game in program history. Kendra Sater contributed with 47 assists in the win for Drury. The Panthers had 16 total team blocks in the match.  
 
With their win over Rockhurst, the Panthers have now posted wins against 4th ranked Florida Southern, 14th ranked Arkansas Tech, 4th ranked Ferris State, 25th ranked Tampa, and now the 8^th ranked Hawks. Drury's only two losses have been to two ranked teams, 22nd ranked Central Missouri, and 23rd ranked Florida Southern.
 
The Panthers are on the road for their next game as they travel to Maryville for a 7 p.m. in St. Louis on Friday.
 
 
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