Jacksonville, IL 9/2/2022- The Westminster Blue Jay volleyball team started their season in style defeating Anderson University 3-1 (10-25,25-18,25-23,25-21) in the opening game of the Illinois College Invitational tournament. This is the first of four games that the Jays will compete in, two games Friday night and two games on Saturday.
The Blue Jays got off to a slow start in the first set, only getting three kills and committing ten errors. The Ravens came out swinging recording twelve kills for a .250 and winning the first set 25-10.
Westminster would recover and win the second set 25-18. The Blue Jays held the opposition to eight kills and forced them to commit eight errors. The Blue Jays got off to a hot start at the beginning of the set, taking a commanding 10-3 lead. They would rattle off six straight points that included a pair of aces from Gracie Henrikson (Athens,IL / Athens). The Ravens came back to make it close at 15-12 after they would score five unanswered points. Senior hitter Haley Menke (O'Fallon, Mo. / Fort Zumwalt West) would win the second set for her squad on one of her eleven kills on the night. Westminster won set two 25-18.
Anderson jumped out to a big lead in the third set. The Jays tied at 6-6 then they went on a 6-1 run to give them a 19-12 lead. The Ravens battled back to make it 19-16 and then would tie the set at 23-23. A huge block by Menke and Mackenzie Lowder (St. Clair, MO / St. Clair) gave the Blue Jays a 24-23 lead. Senior setter Kate Rable (Saint Peters, Mo. / Fort Zumwalt South) would end the set with an ace! She would earn the Blue Jays the win in the third set and a 2-1 lead in the match.
The Jays got a commanding 10-3 lead to start the fourth set. Anderson refused to go away, battled the entire set 24-20, and looked to attempt a rally. Menke would once again shut the door with a match-winning kill on a beautiful set from Rable.
Menke had her fingerprints all over the match, getting eleven kills on thirty attempts, and having a .167 kill percentage. Sophie Reimer (St. Charles, MO / Lutheran) picked up fifteen digs and Henrikson recorded ten digs of her own. They combined for twenty-five of the teams' sixty-one total digs. Rable had twenty-seven assists. Junior hitter Malena Bixby (New Berlin, IL / New Berlin) had six kills and eight digs in her first game as a Blue Jay. Senior Eryka Wanyonyi (Columbia, Mo. / Hickman) recorded nine kills of her own and freshman middle hitter Meghan Nolte ( Wentzville, MO / Wentzville) had seven kills on fifteen attempts, good for a .400 kill percentage in her first game at the college level.
The Blue Jays had a quick turnaround as they faced Franklin College immediately following this game. They will play two more games on Saturday, September 3rd taking on Monmouth College at 12:30 PM and then they face host Illinois College at 2:30 PM. Those games will be live-streamed here. Follow Westminster Athletics on all socials for game updates!
