BOLIVAR, Mo. – Drury volleyball overcame a two sets-to-one deficit Thursday evening, rallying for a 23-25, 25-17, 21-25, 25-20, 15-12 road decision over Southwest Baptist in Great Lakes Valley Conference action at Meyer Sports Center.

Former Bearcat Ella Rademaker paced the Panthers (10-6, 3-2 GLVC) with 19 kills against her former club, while Skylar Hilton totaled a career-high 12 kills and Phoebe Riddle added nine kills and four blocks for Drury.

Drury notched its third win in its last four GLVC matches, improving to 2-1 on the road in conference play this season.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• SBU (4-12, 1-4 GLVC) gained the upper hand by winning a back-and-forth first set in which neither club led by more than three points until a late 7-1 run for the Bearcats handed them a 20-16 advantage.
• DU rallied to win three straight points to knot the score at 23-23, but back-to-back blocks from Kailey Sexton gave SBU the opening stanza.
• Behind the play of Riddle, who registered five kills and a pair of blocks in the second set, the Panthers evened the match at one set apiece with a 25-17 decision.
• Drury build a five-point cusion on a Mailie Chretien kill, then extended the margin down the stretch, winning five of the last six points, while hitting .333 for the set.
• But SBU bounced back in the third, jumping out to an 8-0 lead to take control.
• The Panthers clawed their way back into the set, ultimately pulling even at 21-21 on back-to-back kills from Rademaker and Riddle, before the Bearcats once again reeled off a string of unanswered points, this time winning four straight points to seal the 25-21 win.
• Drury led nearly all of the fourth set, taking a 2-1 lead on a Hilton kill and never surrendering it.
• After DU built a four-point cushion early, SBU whittled the margin down to one point on several occasions, before the Panthers put the win away by claiming eight of the last 12 points.
• Rademaker carried the offense with seven kills in the fourth, while the DU defense limited SBU to their lowest hitting percentage (.042) of the night.
• Drury carried that momentum into the fifth and deciding set, riding a pair of Lauren Tyler service aces to a 6-1 advantage.
• SBU would get no closer than two points of the DU lead the rest of the way, despite putting together a 5-1 spurt to close to within 14-12 before an attack error closed out the victory for the Panthers.

NOTABLES

• Rademaker, who played for SBU from 2022-24 before transferring to Drury, recorded the second-best single-match kills total (19) by a Panther attacker this season, trailing only her own 20-kill effort vs. McKendree (Sept. 27).
• Hilton's 12 kills surpassed her 11-kill effort against McKendree as her career best as s Panther.
• Tyler's 27 assists -- a match high -- equaled her season best (along with a 27-assist effort vs. Henderson State on Sept. 20).
• Drury has now posted back-to-back GLVC victories for the first time this season after alternating wins and losses for the first four outings of the league season.
• Coupled with their win at William Jewell (Oct. 4) last weekend, the Panthers have now posted consecutive road victories in conference play for the first time since topping Truman State and Jewell on Sept. 16-17, 2022.
• DU improved to 57-23 all-time vs. SBU and 13-2 against the Bearcats under head coach Jenifer Bahner-Hill.

UP NEXT
After enjoying a rare weekend off from competition, the Panthers will travel to Hammond, Ind., next weekend to take part in the Midwest Regional Crossover (Oct. 17-18).

For all the latest information on Drury volleyball, visit drurypanthers.com. For up-to-the-minute updates, follow the Panthers on X and Instagram.

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