Beavers Head to Westminster for SLIAC Volleyball Tournament Quarterfinals

CARLINVILLE, ILL. -- Blackburn College Volleyball heads to Fulton, Missouri Wednesday to take on Westminster College for the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Volleyball Tournament Quarterfinals.

The match is slated to begin at 7 p.m. and can be followed with live stats and video.

The Beavers head into the match on a five match win streak and have won six of their last seven matches, with five of those wins coming in 3-0 sweeps. Most recently, BC defeated Mississippi University for Women 3-2 and Principia College, 3-0, on Saturday. 

Blackburn is led by junior Cara Pence, who set a new school record on Saturday as she tallied her 313th kill of the season against Principia. The junior notched 30 kills for the week, including 17 in the team's victory over MUW. Pence is currently seventh in the SLIAC in kills with 2.72 kills per set while her season total places her fifth. She also ranks seventh with 2.95 points per set. 

Freshman Kenadee Frey is tied for second in the SLIAC with 54 aces and is fourth with .47 aces per set. Frey has posted 18 aces over the last three matches including a career-high seven in the teams 3-0 victory over Eureka. 

Freshman Tessa Funderburk is third in the league with 639 assists, while her average of 5.86 per set also places her third in the league.

Westminster comes into Wednesday's quarterfinals off two 3-2 wins this past Saturday, defeating Webster University and Greenville College. The Blue Jays are led by Maleena Bixby who has a total of 339 kills this season along with 22 aces and 295 digs. Kirsten Schrader has 435 digs while Celissa Kennady has notched 54 blocks. 

The Blue Jays lead the season series this year as they bested Blackburn 3-2 at Westminster in September and collected a 3-1 victory in October at Blackburn.