Griffins Defeat Highlanders

St. Louis- The Griffin crowd got a volleyball thriller tonight as Fontbonne defeated St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference MacMurray College tonight in four sets (25-20, 25-22, 25-27, and 25-19). The Griffins are now 2-2 in SLIAC play and 4-6 overall.

Fontbonne's attack came alive against the Highlanders as freshman Maddie Stadler recorded a career high 16 kills. She held the largest hitting percentage for the Griffins as well as the game-high kills. Close behind her was senior Taryn Ballmann with fourteen.

After winning the first two sets, the Griffins were up 24-23 in the third set when the Highlanders made an illegal substitution. The error wasn't caught until the score was 24-24. The officials awarded Fontbonne with the point, but only a point too late. MacMurray went on to win the third set, forcing the fourth set.

The Highlanders would eventually call a timeout and afterwards, an illegal player was on the court afterwards. Fontbonne received another freebie and were leading 19-14. The Griffins would hold onto the win.

Defensively Rachel Barnes contributed with 25 digs, a game and career high for the freshman. Griffin setters Mandy DeWitt and Lynsey Wehrenberg each assisted 19 times. MacMurray recorded 10 team blocks (three solo) while Fontbonne recorded six.

Fontbonne returns to the court Friday, September 27th for a 5pm match against Millikin. The event will take place at Washington University in St. Louis. Live stats can be found here.