QU women’s volleyball team showcases tenacity, holds off Missouri S&T to finish weekend undefeated

QUINCY — The Quincy University women’s volleyball team bookended its weekend by showing nothing is going to get it down.

After opening the Hawk Invitational at Pepsi Arena on Friday with a four-set victory over William Jewell, the Hawks rebounded from two tough sets against Missouri S&T to win another four-set match Saturday and finish the weekend undefeated.

Quincy beat Missouri S&T 29-27, 23-25, 25-17, 28-26 after dispatching Malone 25-18, 25-21, 25-13 earlier Saturday. The Hawks are now 8-0 overall with one tournament to go before beginning Great Lakes Valley Conference play.

Against Malone, QU’s Emma Wijnbergen collected 22 kills, while Susanna Beretti had nine. Elena Kasavica dished out 35 assists and had 14 digs.

Against Missouri S&T, the Hawks won the first set by breaking a tie at 27 with back-to-back kills from Zeynep Cetin and Wijnbergen. The Miners won the second set despite the Hawks winning the first four points. In the third set, Missouri S&T won the first four points, only to have QU respond with a six-point run to take the lead for good.

In the fourth set, the Miners rattled off the first six points and it took until a four-point run in the middle of the set for the Hawks to pull even and then take the lead at 15-14. Quincy led 23-20 before Missouri S&T won five of the next six points to take a 25-24 lead.

But the Hawks took four of the final five points and finished the match on a kill by Kasavica, one of only two the setter had in the match.

Wijnbergen finished with 24 kills, while Luna Van Baars had 19 kills and Beretti had 14. Kasavica had 56 assists and 18 digs, while Janelle Pye-Blacknard had 20 digs.