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SPRINGFIELD, Mo.- The 13th ranked Drury Panthers needed five sets but were able to put away Truman State for a 3-2 win (24-26, 25-18, 25-11, 23-25, 15-7) on Senior Day at the O’Reilly Family Event Center on Saturday.
The Panthers improved to 24-4, 14-2 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference, and increased their lead in the GLVC to a full game in the loss column over Illinois Springfield (21-6, 12-3) who lost at home to Indianapolis on Saturday. Truman State fell to 19-9 and 9-7 in the league.
The Bulldogs won a tightly played first set 26-24, but Drury responded to the win the second set 25-18 and dominated the third for a 25-11 victory. The Panthers owned a 22-18 lead in the fourth before Truman State won seven of the next eight points and forced a fifth set with a 25-23 win.
Drury jumped out to a 9-4 lead in the fifth and held off the Bulldogs to take the match.
“Truman is a good team – they came out firing, and they came out strong,” said Drury head coach Jenifer Bahner. “I thought Taylor Forth came up big for us in the second set. Her presence in the middle opened up things for our other hitters. I was proud of how we continued to fight. We started the fifth set strong that gave us the confidence to finish it.”
Saturday’s win was the 100th career victory for coach Bahner at the four-year collegiate level. In her fifth season at Drury, Bahner owns a 100-50 record.
Bree Schmidt set a program record with 46 digs in the match. The senior from Topeka, Kansas topped the previous mark set by Maggie Thompson who had 43 against Saginaw Valley State on Sept. 1, 2006.
Bentley Mara had 18 kills and 14 digs. Emmalee Chrest added 17 kills while Kendra Sater had 54 assists, a solo block, and eight block assists.
The Panthers conclude a three-game homestand on Tuesday when the host William Jewell. Game time is 7 p.m. at the O’Reilly Family Event Center.
