Fulton, MO 10/19/2022- The Westminster College volleyball team hosted the undefeated Greenville University Panthers on Wednesday in a rematch of their dramatic five-set match from earlier this month at Greenville. Before the game, Westminster honored the careers of their four senior players, Haley Menke (O'Fallon, Mo. / Fort Zumwalt West), Kate Rable (Saint Peters, Mo. / Fort Zumwalt South), Payton Bledsoe (Mexico, Mo. / Mexico) and Eryka Wanyonyi (Columbia, Mo. / Hickman).
The Blue Jays would use the momentum from the energetic crowd to rocket out to an early 6-2 lead in the first set. The Panthers would settle things down and take the lead at 9-6. They would go on to win the first set 25-17.
In set number two the two teams would trade points and lead back and forth many times. The Blue Jays would then score seven unanswered points to take a commanding 17-11 lead. It was beginning to feel like the fans in attendance were about to witness something special as the capacity crowd had the Historic Gym rocking. Then the Panthers proved why they are undefeated, they scored the next fourteen out of nineteen points, including going on a 6-0 run to close out the second set 25-22 and take a 2-0 lead.
Refusing to be swept on senior night on their home court the Blue Jays would regroup and win the third set 25-23 to force a fourth set.
In the fourth set, the two teams would once again battle back and forth. The game would tie four more times after it was tied 18-18. The Blue Jays would get it to set point at 24-23 but were unable to put Greenville away as the Panthers scored three straight points to win the set 26-24 and the match 3-1.
Westminster falls to 15-13 on the season and 9-5 in the SLIAC. Greenville improves to 18-6 on the year and remains undefeated in the SLIAC at 12-0.
The Blue Jays were led offensively by Wanyonyi who had 13 kills in the game as well as 13 digs. She racks up another double-double on the season. Malena Bixby (New Berlin, IL/ New Berlin) had 12 kills and four block assists. Rable would have 20 assists in the game. Celissa Kennedy (Ashland, MO / Southern Boone) came in off the bench was huge on defense, getting four block assists and they were in very key moments of the match.
The Blue Jays have the weekend off and will be back in action next Wednesday when they travel to St. Louis to take on the Washington University Bears. That game will start at 7:00 PM.
