Fulton, Mo 11/8/2023- The Westminster College volleyball team hosted the Blackburn College Beavers in the 2023 SLIAC Volleyball Tournament Quarterfinals. The Blue Jays would sweep the Beavers 3-0 (25-21, 25-18, 25-21) to advance to the semifinals on Saturday. Blackburn ends their season with a 12-21 record overall and 7-11 in the SLIAC.
The Blue Jays would control the game from the opening serve and only trailed once in the entire match. That was at 6-4 in the opening set. The Blue Jays would rattle eight straight points to take a 12-6 lead. The Beavers would come back later in the set, scoring seven straight points to make it 24-21. Blackburn would commit an attacking error in the next rally to give Westminster the 25-21 set one win. Westminster would dominate the second set, winning it 25-18. Then would win the third set 25-21, fending off a late rally by the Beavers to win the match 3-0.
Malena Bixby led the Blue Jays in kills and digs, with ten and eleven digs. Kylie Hasselbacher was right behind her with nine kills of her own. Madisyn Ellis and Meghan Nolte both contributed seven kills. Nolte also had three block assists in the match. Braylee Montgomery raked up twenty-six assists from the setter position. Kirsten Schrader had nine digs from the libero spots and had three service aces. Haylie Schnake picked up ten digs as well.
The three-seeded Blue Jays will take on the two-seeded Fontbonne University Griffins in the semifinals on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. in Greenville, Illinois. Greenville University will host both the semifinals and championship games. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for children. Kids under 5 years of age are free.
