Searcy, Ark. — The Southwest Baptist University women's volleyball team returns from a long away trip to the Harding Invite, preparing to begin conference play at home this weekend.
 
The Harding Invite did not go as planned for the Lady Bearcats. On Thursday, they fell to Harding University in the second game these two teams have played against each other this season. One day later, SBU suffered defeats to Trevecca Nazarene University (1-3) and the University of Arkansas Fort Smith (0-3). Despite the final results, the team in purple fought hard through all seven sets on the day as their largest margin of defeat for a single set was six.
 
One bright spot for Southwest Baptist was junior Rory Stanley's performance against Trevecca Nazarene. She recorded 10 kills and a .643 hitting percentage. Her overall hitting percentage of .325 on the season is good enough to give her the eighth best hitting percentage in the GLVC this season. In the same game, freshman Chloe Chafins tallied four service aces and 20 digs. She had six service aces and 41 digs total at the Harding Invite, boosting her season totals to 19 service aces (4th in GLVC) and 155 digs (5th in GLVC).
 
SBU begins their conference schedule with their first game of the week on Friday, September 26 at 6:00 pm against McKendree University, in the Meyer Sports Center. McKendree is currently 1-10 on their season and coming off a tournament where they failed to win a single set, so SBU will have high hopes for coming out of Friday's game with a win. On Saturday, Southwest Baptist takes on the University of Missouri St. Louis (UMSL) at 3:00 pm, also in the Meyer Sports Center. UMSL is 7-4 on the season, but they are coming off a 1-2 weekend record. The Lady Bearcats will have every opportunity to start conference play with two wins.

To keep up with the women's volleyball conference openers or any athletic teams at SBU, make sure to visit sbubearcats.com and follow us on Instagram (@sbubearcats) for daily content, updates, and more.