No. 11 Lewis Drops Drury 3-0 Saturday On Senior Day; Panthers Qualify For GLVC Championships

Nationally 11th-ranked and league-leading Lewis put a damper on Senior Day festivities for the volleyball Panthers, beating Drury 3-0 in the regular season and Great Lakes Valley Conference finale at the O'Reilly Family Event Center on Saturday.

Afterward, the Panthers (22-12, 8-6 in the GLVC) learned that they had qualified for next week's GLVC Championships, to be hosted by Lewis in Romeoville, Ill., next Friday through Sunday. A loss by Missouri S & T at Northern Kentucky on Saturday meant Drury was tourney-bound for a fifth time in six seasons as a league member. The Panthers' draw and seeding will be determined later today.

Lewis won Saturday's match by scores of 25-19, 26-24 and 25-17, picking up a key rally for the victory in the second set when the Panthers were serving match point at 24-23 after themselves having rallied from a 23-19 deficit to grab the lead.

In the third set, the Panthers led 10-8 before Lewis scored the next four points and never trailed again.

Kyrie Hopkins had nine kills and Kayla Hellebusch added eight kills, while Austin Warren had 30 assists to lead the Panthers. That trio, along with Jagoda Pstras, were honored in pre-game Senior Day festivities.

Hannah Koeneman had 11 kills and Rachel Ruedi had 33 assists to lead Lewis, which pushed its winning streak to seven matches and improved to 23-4 overall and finished 13-1 as regular season GLVC champs.