Box Score
SHREVEPORT, La. — The Western Illinois volleyball team finished its Summit League road season with a 3-0 win at Centenary in a match that snapped a seven-match losing streak for the Fighting Leathernecks.
Western won by scores of 25-19, 25-14 and 28-26 to improve to 9-18 overall and 5-10 in Summit League play. With the win, the Leathernecks have matched both their overall and conference win totals from last season with four matches to play.
Western Illinois coach Kym McKay said all 11 of her players saw action against the Ladies. McKay said junior setter Ellen Miller and sophomore left side hitter Brooke Stittleburg had big nights for the Leathernecks. Miller had 37 assists and 12 digs while Stittleburg had 11 digs and eight kills.
"Ellen had another great night. She made really good choices with the offense and got involved by getting some attacks on second hits," McKay said. "Brooke had a really good all-around match."
McKay said blocking was key for Western in the win as the Leathernecks finished the match with seven team blocks.
"As a team, defensively we did a great job at the net with our blocking. We had a lot of terminal blocks for points at key points in the match," McKay said. "When centenary did pressure us, we came up big with a really assertive point."
Krissy Bergquist led the Leathernecks with 13 kills with a .423 hitting percentage (2e, 26ta) while Cait Egan had 10 kills on a .375 hitting percentage (1e, 24ta). Western hit for a .333 percentage (52k, 10e, 126ta), which is the team's second-best clip of the season.
McKay said it was nice for the team to get the monkey off its back and get some momentum with three of its final four matches at home.
"This is our last conference road trip and it is our second-longest trip. To play physical after all the hours we spent on the bus this weekend was a huge positive," McKay said. "Playing below expectations and not being able to get the 'W' has been our worst enemy. Hopefully we'll take this and let it be that confidence builder that we've been searching for."
