Bolivar, Mo. – The SBU women's volleyball team had their first home matches of the season Friday in the Meyer Sports Center. The Bearcats fell in both games, first in a five-set thriller against Harding University, then to Union in four sets in the final match of the day. That moves them to 2-4 on the season.
 
Game 1 vs Harding Bisons: L, (22-25, 26-24, 18-25, 25-14, 14-16)
Set 1 went back and forth with each team staying close to each other throughout, junior Hannah Jackson had five early kills in the match. Second set differed from the first as the Bearcats went on numerous scoring runs including a five-point run but still trailed 23-24, facing set point. After a Bisons error and Jackson kill, senior Katie Pogue saved the set with an incredible diving dig, to be followed up by a Kailey Sexton and Gabriela Dupree block for the set victory.
 
In the third set, teams went back-and-forth, until Harding pulled away hallway through going on a 9-1 run to lead 20-15, holding on for the win. That momentum did not hold going into the 4^th set as SBU started on a 7-1 run. The Bisons made it interesting at 13-12, but the Bearcats went on a 10-0 run with freshman Chloe Chafins serving, recording three aces. The fifth and final set was another battle with SBU holding as much as a three-point lead at 13-10. Then a 4-0 run by Harding put them in the lead and pulled away with the win.
 
Freshman Dupree broke another career record in kills with 20 on the game along with four blocking assists and seven digs. Junior Hannah Jackson had a season high in kills with 16 on the game with an impressive .324 hitting percentage. Senior Pogue led the team in assists with 26 to go along with her double-double of 16 digs. Chafins also had a double-double with 17 assists and 16 digs to go along with her team high three serving aces.
 
Game 2 vs Union: L (23-25, 27-25, 21-25, 22-25)
In the final game of the night, it could have gone either way again but went against the Bearcats this time. All four sets were decided by four points or less, with two being decided by the minimum. SBU held the lead for a majority of set one before the Bulldogs went on a 5-0 run late to take the lead and didn't look back. Set two was a game of runs that started with SBU taking five straight points, with Union following up with eight straight. Shortly after the Bearcats went on a 7-0 run and finished on a 3-0 run to knot the game up.
 
Set three had a lot of similarities as Southwest Baptist sparked a 10-1 run for a five-point lead, but that heat was swiftly tamed by Union as they gained momentum and never looked back through the rest of the match.
 
For the 5^th time this season freshman Dupree led in kills with 18 for a .261 hitting percentage. Fellow freshman Julia Marinesi had a career high with 12 kills in the game along with a .370 hitting percentage. One of the most consistent performances of the match came from junior Rory Stanley who had seven kills off 11 attacks and no hitting errors. That led to a .636 hitting percentage along with her five blocking assists. Freshman Allie Hawk led the team in assists with 24 with Pogue right behind at 23.
 
SBU women's volleyball will conclude this year's Bearcat Classic Saturday in the Meyer Center. Their first game will be in the morning at 9:30am against Missouri Southern (4-1) and Christian Brothers (2-3) at 2:00pm.