SPRINGFIELD, Mo.— McKendree handed Drury their first home loss of the season as the Bearcats downed the Panthers in five sets on Saturday at the O'Reilly Family Event Center.
 
Drury fell to 7-3 and 1-1 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference, while McKendree improved to 3-6 and 1-0 in the league. DU had won all four of their previous games at the O' this season.
 
The Panthers pulled away in the opening set to win 25-21, then dropped second 25-22, and fell in a back-and-forth third set 28-26. Drury controlled the fourth, winning 25-18, but the Bearcats burst to an 11-3 lead in the fifth set and closed out the match, 15-7.
 
"We had a lot of up-and-down in our play today," said Panthers head coach Jenifer Bahner. "We scored a lot of our own points in the fourth set. I thought we had good energy and controlled it the whole time, but unfortunately, we struggled to carry that over into the fifth set."
 
Senior Taylor Forth led the Panthers with 12 kills and four block assists. Gabriela Oliveria added 11 kills, 14 digs, and four block assists, while Makina Wratten contributed eight block assists, a solo block, and nine kills.
 
Colleen Preusser had a game-high 17 kills and served four aces to lead McKendree.
 
Drury is back at home on Tuesday when they host Missouri Southern State in a non-conference game at the O'Reilly Family Event Center at 6 pm.
 
 
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