SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Drury volleyball wraps up a three-match home stand when they host Southwest Bapitst for a 6 p.m., Great Lakes Valley Conference contest Wednesday (Sept. 30) evening inside O'Reilly Family Event Center.
The Panthers (11-4, 2-2 GLVC) split their first two GLVC home contests of the season with William Jewell and Rockhurst this past weekend. Drury posted a straight-set victory over Jewell to open its current three-match home stand on Friday, before falling to the defending conference champion Tritons in four hard-fought sets Saturday.
SBU (10-5, 2-2 GLVC) also enters Wednesday's matchup 2-2 on the season in league play, mirroring the Panthers' GLVC results with a road win over McKendree and a home victory against Jewell to its credit.
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 HISTORY
- Drury brings a commanding 57-23 all-time series lead over SBU into Wednesday's contest, including a 5-1 mark vs. the Bearcats inside O'Reilly Family Event Center.
- The Panthers have won 13 of their last 15 meetings with the Bearcats dating back to 2009.
- DU has claimed the last two contests in the series, including a 3-2 decision over SBU last October in Bolivar.
OPENING STORYLINES
- Drury brings a cumulative program record of 891-778-17 -- good for a .533 winning percentage -- into Wednesday's action.
- Head coach Kelly Richardson has made a strong first impression as DU's newest bench boss, entering the weekend 11-4, which represents the best start to a career by a Drury volleyball head coach.
- Richardson racked up career coaching victory No. 100 with DU's Aug. 29 victory over Texas A&M International; she brings a 109-227 cumulative collegiate coaching record into the week.
- DU enters the week tied with SBU and Truman State for sixth place in the GLVC regular-season standings, two games behind league-leading UMSL and Lewis at 4-0.
- As a team, Drury leads the GLVC in blocks (2.29 per set) and ranks second in the circuit in digs per set (18.31), paced by Jacy Bray (3.39) and Abby Renshaw (3.02) in the latter category.
- Defensively, the Panthers also rank eighth nationally in digs and 20th among all Division II clubs in blocks per set.
- Drury has limited the opposition to a hitting percentage of .138, which ranks 38th 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.
- Skylar Hilton ranks second in the GLVC and ranks 32nd nationally in hitting (.382); the Ozark, Mo., product also has a team-best 52 blocks on the year and 168 for her two-year DU career.
- Hilton's 1.04 blocks per set also rank second among all GLVC players.
- Gracie Kimrey ranks seventh in the conference with her 0.98 blocks per set average; the redshirt sophomore also ranks ninth in the GLVC in hitting (.291).
- Renshaw's 2.51 kills per set trail only Hilton and Chaney Barth on the Panthers' leaderboard, while her 16 service aces lead Drury this season; Renshaw's 154 digs are second on the club as well.
- Kim Quinit enters Wednesday's contest just 87 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 38 in a row last weekend (dating back to Sept. 12, 2025), while topping the 1,000-assist plateau for both her collegiate career and two-year DU career in Friday's win over William Jewell.
- Bray enters Wednesday's contest with 1,057 career assists to her credit, including 1,034 as a Panther.
- Bray paces a Panther offense that has posted the second-leading kill average (13.49 per set) and No. 3 assist average (12.41 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 29th nationally in assists (9.92 per set), while her total of 506 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 38 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 seven doubles, 506 assists and 178 digs this season to date.
- Junior defensive specialist Kim Quinit enters the weekend with 913 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.
- As a team, the Panthers' 246.5 blocks ranked fourth among all GLVC clubs and 44th in the nation last season.
- 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 437 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
Following their lone bye weekend of the conference season, the Panthers will return to the road for a pair of GLVC contests against Illinois Springfield (Oct. 9) and Quincy (Oct. 10).
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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