The UIS volleyball team heads back into GLVC play on the road this weekend, traveling to St. Louis to face Missouri-St. Louis on Friday night at 6:00 p.m. before a 3:00 p.m. matchup at McKendree on Saturday.

Illinois Springfield (6-6, 0-2 GLVC)
UIS opened conference play last weekend at home with back-to-back losses. On Friday, the Prairie Stars pushed preseason favorite and defending champion Lewis, taking the opening set before ultimately falling 24-26, 25-19, 25-23, 25-16. Makenna Cox paced the attack with 18 kills, Erica Sledge dished out 34 assists, and first-year libero Tuana Yuce tallied a career-high 22 digs.

On Saturday, UIS faced Indianapolis and dropped the match in straight sets (25-17, 25-20, 25-19). The Prairie Stars hit .104 as a team compared to UIndy's .236.

Individually, UIS continues to get strong performances from its veteran core. Sledge ranks fourth in the GLVC with 7.74 assists per set. Cox is fifth in kills per set (3.29) and points per set (3.94). Yuce sits eighth in the league in total digs (162) and averages 3.86 per set.

Missouri-St. Louis (9-4, 2-0 GLVC)
UMSL opened conference play in dominant fashion with sweeps over Drury and Southwest Baptist. Against Drury, the Tritons hit .356 as a team while setter Caitlin Bishop directed the offense with 29 assists. Alayna Santel led the match with 14 kills, and several others contributed to the attack.

The Tritons have several players among the league's statistical leaders. Bishop leads the GLVC in assists per set with 11.31, while Hannah Copeland is second in hitting percentage at .356. Santel ranks third in kills per set (3.75) and second in points (4.50), giving UMSL a balanced and dangerous offensive core.

McKendree (2-11, 1-1 GLVC)
McKendree enters the weekend with two wins, including a sweep of Southwest Baptist in its GLVC opener. The Bearcats nearly added a second GLVC victory last weekend before falling in five sets to Drury. McKendree won the first two sets 27-25 and 25-16, but Drury battled back to even the match with 25-23 and 25-21 set wins. The deciding set went Drury's way, 15-11, though the teams stayed close statistically throughout.

Ashlyn Berczynski ranks top five in the GLVC with 4.42 digs per set, Peyton Uptgraft is among the league's leaders with 6.7 assists per set, and Corinne Leech is top 10 in service aces. Destiny Gray is the team's leading scorer, averaging 3.31 points per set.

Follow Along
Both matches will be streamed live on the GLVC Sports Network, with live statistics provided by the host schools.