Women's volleyball evens out SLIAC record

St. Louis, Mo. -After this weekend, Fontbonne women's volleyball is 8-10 overall and 4-4 in St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play.

Friday night, Spalding University came into town and the Griffins were hoping to sweep the series, having defeated the Golden Eagles the week before. Spalding held the upper hand, as senior Erica Burkman muscled out 22 kills with a .444 hitting percentage. The Griffins fell 25-27, 20-25, 25-20 and 20-25.

Fontbonne trailed during set one until they evened the count at 10, and until the very end. Fontbonne lost their 25-24 lead as Spalding scored three straight points for the victory. The end of the first set continued as the Griffins were trailing 19-10 in set two. The Griffins scored five straight points to pull within four points, but the Eagles out-scored Fontbonne 6-5 for the win. The Griffins controlled the third set and while Spalding led 22-15 during set four, Fontbonne scored four points to trail by three. Spalding finished the victory with a 3-1 advantage.

Jenny Wang ended the game with a .429 hitting percentage including seven kills. Kersten McDonough totaled 16 kills with Emily Merick adding 14 of her own. Spalding was strong at the net with 10 total team blocks and the Griffins totaling 5 total team blocks.

On Saturday the Griffins traveled to Elsah, Ill. for contests against MacMurray and Blackburn.

Fontbonne started out strong against MacMurray leading 7-4. The Griffins went on an 8-2 run to lead 15-6 and eventually win 25-17. The second set was back and forth until Fontbonne scored the final four points for the 25-20 victory. The Griffins claimed set three 25-19 after MacMurray held the lead for only three points. Earlier this season the Griffins fell to the Highlanders in four sets.

Maddie Stadler and Krista Beyer were in the backfield stopping 11 and 10 digs respectively. McDonough totaled 15 digs and MacMurray recorded 12 block assists for a team total of 6 blocks.

The Griffins got off to a rocky start against Blackburn who led 16-12 before Fontbonne 13-3 first set victory run. Blackburn got out to a 4-0 lead to start the second set, but after the Griffins took a 6-5 lead, they never looked back. Fontbonne finished set two 25-14 and finished the game with a 25-21 win.

On Saturday, Griffin leaders were McDonough with 28 kills, Lynsey Wehrenberg with 29 assists, Mandy DeWitt with 24 assists, Merick with 6 aces, Beyer with 23 digs, Stadler with 19 digs and McDonuogh and Wang each totaled 4 blocks.

The Griffins play at Webster Wednesday, October 1st at 6pm for the Dig Pink event. Please wear pink and support cancer research.