SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Drury volleyball will look to extend its strong start to the Great Lakes Valley Conference season with a pair of road contests against Illinois Springfield Friday evening (6 p.m.) in Springfield, Ill., and Quincy Saturday afternoon (3 p.m.) in Quincy, Ill.
The Panthers (12-4, 3-2 GLVC) enter Friday's matchup at UIS with wins in two of their last three GLVC outings, including a straight-set victory over SBU (Sept. 30) in their most recent contest. All three of Drury's conference wins have been sweeps, and the Panthers have logged 10 straight-set victories this season overall.
Illinois Springfield (4-12, 1-5 GLVC) will be looking to stop a three-match GLVC slide Friday, having dropped each of those contests in straight sets. Quincy (11-7, 2-4 GLVC) enters the weekend having split its last four GLVC matches after dropping two straight to open the conference season.
Fans may follow the action through the GLVC Sports Network (subscription required), where tournament games will be streamed live throughout the weekend. Once again throughout the 2026-27 academic year, viewing access to live broadcasts from GLVC regular-season and postseason contests will be available via monthly subscription ($32) or annual subscription ($145). Single-event access can also be purchased for $15, and students of GLVC member institutions can save 10-percent on single-game PPV access, monthly subscriptions, and Full Year Access Passes by entering the promotional code "GLVC@EDU27" at checkout.
SERIES HISTORIES
- The Panthers bring a 14-6 series advantage against UIS into Friday's match.
- DU dropped a five-set decision to the Prairie Stars in the two clubs' last meeting on Oct. 25, 2025 at O'Reilly Family Event Center.
- Quincy holds a 14-13 series edge over Drury entering Saturday's contest, including a road win (3-1) over the Panthers in the two clubs' most recent matchup last October.
- The Hawks have won the last five matchups with the Panthers in Quincy, dating back to 2016.
OPENING STORYLINES
- Drury brings a cumulative program record of 892-778-17 -- good for a .533 winning percentage -- into Friday's action.
- Head coach Kelly Richardson has made a strong first impression as DU's newest bench boss, entering the weekend 12-4, which represents the best start to a career by a Drury volleyball head coach.
- Richardson then racked up career coaching victory No. 100 with DU's Aug. 29 victory over Texas A&M International; she brings a 110-227 cumulative collegiate coaching record into the weekend.
- DU enters the week tied with Maryville for fifth place in the GLVC regular-season standings.
- As a team, Drury leads the GLVC in digs per set (18.41), ranking fourth in the nation; Jacy Bray (3.41) and Abby Renshaw (3.15) pace the Panthers in the same category.
- Drury also shares the GLVC lead in blocks (2.24 per set), with Skylar Hilton (1.04) and Gracie Kimrey (0.94) each ranking among the top eight defenders in the circuit; the Panthers also rank 27th nationally in blocks per set as a team.
- Drury has limited the opposition to a hitting percentage of .139, which ranks second in the GLVC and 34th among all NCAA Division II schools.
- Drury's win over No. 4 Washburn (Sept. 12) marked its first win over a top five team since an Oct. 13, 2018 victory over Ferris State.
- Hilton ranks third in the GLVC and 26th nationally in hitting (.387); the Ozark, Mo., product also has a team-best 55 blocks on the year and 171 for her two-year DU career.
- Hilton's 1.04 blocks per set also rank third among all GLVC players.
- Kimrey ranks eighth in the conference with her 0.94 blocks per set average; the redshirt sophomore also ranks 12th in the GLVC in hitting (.298).
- With 191 kills for her Drury career, Kimrey enters Friday's match just nine away from the 200-kill mark; she also needs just seven more blocks to reach the 100-block milestone as a Panther.
- Renshaw's 2.56 kills per set trail only Hilton and Chaney Barth on the Panthers' leaderboard, while her 18 service aces lead Drury this season; she enters Friday's match with UIS just eight kills shy of the 400-mark for her DU career.
- Renshaw's 170 digs are second on the club this season as well.
- Kim Quinit enters Friday's contest just 80 digs away from the 1,000-dig milestone for her Drury career.
- Bray, who earned her first career GLVC Setter of the Week award on Sept. 13, stretched her streak of consecutive double-digit assist totals to 39 in a row last week vs. SBU (dating back to Sept. 12, 2025), while topping the 1,000-assist plateau for both her collegiate career and two-year DU career in a Sept. 25 win over William Jewell.
- Bray enters Friday's contest with 1,094 career assists to her credit, including 1,071 as a Panther.
- Bray paces a Panther offense that has posted the second-leading kill average (13.61 per set) and assist average (12.57 per set) in the GLVC to date.
- A Nixa, Mo., product, Bray handed out a career-high 49 assists to go along with 24 digs in DU's five-set loss to Southwest Oklahoma State (Sept. 11); the junior's assist total marked the top single-match effort by a Panther since Lauren Tyler's 50-assist effort vs. Truman State on Oct. 11, 2024.
- Bray ranks third in the GLVC and 24th nationally in assists (10.06 per set), while her total of 543 assists ranks fourth in the conference.
PREVIEWING THE PANTHERS
- Drury returns 10 letterwinners from last season's 17-13 team that finished 7-6 in conference play to advance to the GLVC Tournament for the first time since 2019.
- DU won seven of its first nine matches last fall, matching its best start to a season since 2018.
- Junior setter Jacy Bray brings a streak of 39 consecutive double-digit assist performances into the week (since Sept. 12, 2025); Bray logged nine double-doubles and recorded 528 assists (4.98 per set) and 245 digs in 2025 and has eight doubles, 543 assists and 184 digs this season to date.
- Junior defensive specialist Kim Quinit enters the weekend with 920 career digs, in addition to 50 service aces, to her credit.
- Sophomore middle blocker Skylar Hilton ranked fourth overall in the GLVC and 48th nationally with her 116 blocks last fall, which represented the top season tally by a Panther rookie since Elizabeth Bunch's 116 in 2001.
- Senior outside hitter Chaney Barth topped the 300-kill and 300-dig milestones for her career last fall in her first season with the Panthers; she enters the week with 442 career kills to her credit.
- Juniors Emerson Grossman, Jenna LaBarge, Kennedy Outler and Abby Renshaw have each earned significant playing time over their first two seasons in Scarlet and Gray; Grossman recorded a career-best 58 kills (1.21 per set) and 31 total blocks last season, while Renshaw racked up 176 kills (1.81 per set) and 41 blocks in 2025.
- Sophomores Caroline Red, Amelia White and Gracie Kimrey will be looking for breakthrough seasons as well.
- In addition to its corps of returners, Drury welcomes nine newcomers to the mix, led by transfers Reagan Baade, Isy Purrington, Sophia Frerking and Sydney Walker; additionally, freshmen Gwen Kubik, Lucy Hafer, Falon Stroup, Taylor Wood and Bella Asante round out the deep class of newcomers and should give Richardson additional options this fall.
- Drury also turned in a strong 2025-26 year in the classroom, as seven returning Panthers were named Academic All-GLVC, paced by Quinit and Renshaw, who each earned CSC Academic All-District recognition at the conclusion of the 2025 season.
LOOKING AHEAD
Drury will travel to Hammond, Ind., next weekend to take part in the Midwest Regional Crossover (Oct. 16-17).
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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