Drury University Athletics

WILLIAMSVILLE, Ill. – After dropping the opening set of its Great Lakes Valley Conference Championship quarterfinal matchup with Maryville, Drury volleyball rebounded to win the next three and punch its ticket to the semifinal round with a 3-1 (21-25, 25-19, 25-21, 25-16) victory over No. 4 Maryville Thursday afternoon at Williamsville High School Fieldhouse.

With its first GLVC Tournament win in eight years, No. 5 Drury (21-8, 9-4 GLVC) avenged a four-set loss to the Saints (15-14, 9-4 GLVC) on Oct. 31 in St. Louis and crept closer to securing a berth in the NCAA Division II Volleyball Championship. The Panthers entered the contest as the No. 7 NPI-rated team in the NCAA Midwest Region with eight regional teams set to earn bids to the national tournament when the field is announced Sunday (Nov. 15) evening.

The Panthers were able to mount their comeback thanks to another balanced attack that included a career-best day from freshman Taylor Wood (15 kills), Jacy Bray's 19th consecutive double-double (54 assists, 19 digs) and double-digit kill efforts from Chaney Barth (17), Abby Renshaw (15) and Skylar Hilton (11). Drury also served up 10 aces in the victory, led by Renshaw's career-best four service winners and limited the Saints to .186 hitting for the match.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Maryville sprinted to an early 7-0 lead in the opening set and never looked back, ultimately outlasting Drury for a 25-21 decision.
• The Panthers used a 7-1 run of their own to claw their way back into the set, but the Saints maintained at least a two-point cushion.
• Back-to-back kills by Barth and Renshaw closed the gap to 23-21, but MU's Emma Keele put away a winner to generate set point and a DU attack error provided the final point.
• In the second set, Drury fought its way from behind once again, this time using an 8-3 spurt to overcome a 7-5 Maryville advantage, then reeling off five straight points to take a 24-18 lead after the Saints had drawn to within one point.
• Barth then came through with another key kill, handing the Panthers the equalizing set, 25-19.
• Drury hit .282 as a team, with Wood powering the attack with six kills.
• After a seesaw start to the third set, Drury captured three straight points to snap a 6-6 deadlock and never trailed again.
• The Panthers extended their lead to as many as five points before the Saints bounced back with a 5-1 scoring run to close the gap to just one point.
• But Barth and Wood turned in back-to-back kills to make it a 19-16 lead, and Renshaw added a kill of her own before Jenna LaBarge served a pair of aces to give the Panthers some breathing room at 23-18.
• From that point, Renshaw and Hilton came through with the clinching putaways for a 25-19 Drury win.
• Drury led the fourth stanza from wire to wire, as Amelia White's ace capped a 3-0 start, before the Panthers won six straight points to build a 10-2 bulge.
• Renshaw delivered the early spark for DU with three consecutive kills, as well as a service ace to stake the Panthers to a 14-7 advantage.
• Maryville fought its way back to a 15-12 margin, but Barth kills on two of the next three DU points, as well as two more Renshaw kills handed the Panthers a commanding 22-14 lead.
• Hilton put the punctuation mark on the victory with back-to-back kills that sealed the 25-16 decision -- and the match -- for Drury.
• Led by Renshaw's six fourth-set kills, the Panthers hit .333 -- their best hitting percentage of the afternoon -- in the final set to ice the win.

NOTABLES

• The Panthers earned their first victory in the GLVC Tournament since a Nov. 9, 2018 semifinal win over Illinois Springfield.
• Drury improved to 4-9 all-time at the GLVC Championship.
• The Panthers also notched their overall series record against Maryville to 16-8 with their first win over the Saints since Oct. 23, 2021 -- a string of five straight losses to MU.
• DU hiked its record in neutral-site matches to 7-3 this season.
• LaBarge matched her career high with three service aces, combining with Renshaw for seven of Drury's 10 aces on the afternoon; five different Panthers recorded at least one service winner in the contest.
• Kim Quinit registered a team-leading 26 digs to match her second-highest total of the season (29).
• Bray logged her 19th double-double of the season -- and her ninth in a row -- with her fourth 50+ assist performance of the season, finishing just one assist shy of her personal best (55) as a Panther.
• Wood surpassed her previous career high of 14 kills (Oct. 17 vs. Saginaw Valley State).

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