Griffins earns 10th SLIAC win with 3-1 victory over Blackburn

Carlinville, Ill. - After a week off, Fontbonne women's volleyball closed out a three-game losing streak in their final regular-season road game. Fontbonne defeated the Blackburn College Beavers 3-1 to advance to 10-6 in conference play and 12-16 overall. It's the first time since 2007 that Fontbonne women's volleyball has earned at least 10 wins in St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play.

After defeating Blackburn 25-16 in the first set, the Griffins suffered a setback early, finally gaining a 17-16 lead in the second set. Fontbonne led 24-21 but couldn't close out the win as Blackburn notched five straight points to even the playing field with a Griffin 24-26 loss.

It looked as though Fontbonne was going to claim an easy 2-1 advantage going into set four as the Griffins led with a pounding 16-3 score and followed with six more points while the Beavers put just one on the scoreboard. Leading 22-4, Fontbonne allowed Blackburn to score nine more points before finally notching three straight themselves to close out the win. In the fourth set the Griffins led by no more than seven points in the battle before securing the 25-20 win, 17 days after their last win.

Mandy DeWitt, Kersten McDonough and Lynsey Wehrenberg rallied for double-doubles for the Griffins. Wehrenberg recorded 28 assists and 13 digs while McDonough added 19 kills and 13 digs as DeWitt totaled 16 assists and 10 digs. Holly Richter was the only other player with double-digit kills, recording 10 on the nightcap along with three block assists. Middle blocker Carissa dodge was part of seven blocks including one solo block. Leading Fontbonne in the backrow was libero Maddie Stadler with 29 digs while Mariana Rogers added 11.

Fontbonne next hosts Greenville this Thursday, October 29th at 7 p.m. before rounding out SLIAC play next week at home against Eureka.