JACKSON, Tenn. – Drury volleyball wrapped up its opening weekend of the 2025 season with a split of two contests Saturday at the Union Volleyball Classic, dropping a four-set decision to Texas A&M-Kingsville (20-25, 19-25, 25-22, 21-25) to kick off the day, before rebounding for a commanding straight-set victory over Lane College (25-11, 25-12, 25-13).

In the opener, Drury fought back from a two-sets-to-none deficit, winning a nip-and-tuck third set, 25-22, only to see Texas A&M-Kingsville claim a close fourth set. Ella Rademaker led the Panthers with 11 kills and four blocks, while Phoebe Riddle recorded seven blocks (1 solo, 6 assists) and Lauren Tyler handed out 13 assists for DU in the setback.

Drury (2-2) cruised to victory in its final tilt of the weekend, once again riding strong performances from Rademaker and Tyler to a sweep of the Dragons. Tyler served nine aces--just one shy of the Drury single-match record--and Rademaker registered another double-digit kills effort, finishing with 10 in the victory.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Drury battled Texas A&M-Kingsville in a back-and-forth matchup that featured 37 ties and 15 lead changes throughout the four-set affair.
• The Javelinas overcame an early 4-0 Drury spurt that saw the Panthers snap a 5-5 tie in the opening set; Skylar Hilton powered the early DU charge, registering a kill and teaming up with Abby Renshaw for a block to stake Drury to a 9-5 lead.
• Texas A&M-Kingsville responded with a six-point run of its own to seize the lead at 12-10.
• But back-to-back kills from Rademaker and a Javelinas attack error wiped out that lead and handed the Panthers a one-point edge.
• The two clubs battled to a 20-20 tie, before the Javelinas ran off five unanswered points to claim the set; Texas A&M-Kingsville hit .273 as a team--the best hitting percentage in a set for either team in the match.
• The Panthers traded blows in a see-saw second set as well, playing to 15-15 before the Javelinas won six of the next seven points to take control en route to a 25-19 decision.
• But Drury bounced back with a 25-22 third-set win, with the Panthers building an early 10-6 lead thanks to three consecutive Javelinas errors.
• DU extended its advantage to as many as five points on four occasions before Texas A&M-Kingsville rallied to pull even at 22-22 on a Rylan Pollard kill.
• The Panthers came through with three straight points, punctuated by a Renshaw-Riddle block for a 25-22 decision.
• In the fourth set, DU took a 9-6 advantage on a Jacy Bray service ace, but the Javelinas responded by winning the next three points.
• Texas A&M-Kingsville grabbed the lead for good at 16-15, then closed out the match by winning four of the final five points after DU drew to within 21-20.
• Against Lane, Drury jumped out to a large opening-set lead and never looked back; the Panthers seized the lead for good at 9-8 following a Dragons attack error.
• DU hit .222 for the set and won 16 of the final 19 points in a 25-11 win.
• In the second set, Rademaker registered six kills to help the Panthers post a 25-12 decision.
• Tyler sparked another big DU run in the third to help seal the match for the Panthers; with the score even at 3-3, she served four aces as part of a 10-0 spurt.
• DU stretched the margin to as many as 14 points down the stretch, before kills from Grace Gardner and Hilton closed out the set and the match.

NOTABLES

• Rademaker led the Panthers with 11 kills to go along with six digs and four blocks in the opening match, finishing the day with 21 kills; she concluded the weekend with a team-leading 39 kills (2.79 per set).
• Hilton turned in another strong effort in the first weekend of her DU career, logging six kills and three blocks vs. Texas A&M-Kingsville and six more kills and four blocks against Lane.
• Tyler totaled 26 assists Saturday, finishing the weekend with 57 helpers to raise her DU career total to 1,876, good for 10th in program history; she also logged 15 service aces for the weekend.
• Tyler's nine aces vs. Lane matched Emily Watson's effort vs. Valdosta State (Oct. 16, 1999) as the No. 2 single-match total in Drury history; it was also just one off of Stacey Phillips' school record of 10 vs. Southwest Minnesota State on Oct. 3, 1992.
• Mary Henry finished with 18 digs Saturday and a team-best 31 for the tournament.
• Riddle logged six kills and eight blocks in Saturday's two matches, finishing the weekend with 12 blocks--second only to Hilton's 14 for the tournament.
• In addition to those 14 blocks, Hilton capped the weekend with 22 kills (1.57 per set).
• Mailie Chretien turned in six kills and 15 digs in Saturday's matches, rounding out a solid opening weekend in which the senior tallied 27 kills and 26 digs--both of which rank second on the club.
• As a team, the Panthers hit .210 for their four matches in Tennessee, while holding the opposition to a .110 hitting percentage.

QUOTABLE
"Our blocking was our greatest asset against Texas A&M-Kingsville," Drury head coach Jenifer Bahner-Hill said. "We struggled to get our hitters and setters connected and we had too many attacking errors that affected our momentum. But we bounced back on a high note for our second match. Lauren (Tyler) dominated from the serving line, and Mary (Henry) stepped into the libero role for us and did a great job with her physical skills and the energy she brought to the team this weekend."

UP NEXT
Drury returns to Springfield to open the home portion of its schedule next weekend when the Panthers host the Drury Invitational at O'Reilly Family Event Center. DU will square off against Cameron to open play in the tournament at 1 p.m. Friday (Sept. 12), before taking on Northwest Missouri State in a 5 p.m. contest to conclude the day.

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