The Central Methodist University volleyball team pushed Benedictine College to four games, but was unable to pick up its first conference win of the season as the Lady Eagles lost to Benedictine 13-25, 15-25, 25-19, 17-25 Saturday afternoon.
���
After dropping the first two games, the Lady Eagles jumped out to a 10-4 lead in game three. Benedictine scored a pair of points to get to within 10-6, but a kill by sophomore Paige Shipley (Sedalia, Mo.) and three Benedictine errors made it 14-6 in favor of CMU. After Benedictine made it 15-8, CMU scored three straight points off a pair of kills by senior Erica LaBoube (Berger, Mo.) and one by freshman Makenzie Shepard (Leavenworth, Kan.). Benedictine got to within 22-16 before LaBoube and senior Nikki Torno (St. Louis, Mo.) recorded back-to-back kills to give CMU game-point at 24-16. The Ravens scored three straight points to cut the CMU lead to 24-19, but a kill by junior Morgyn Bergschneider (Archie, Mo.) gave CMU the 25-19 win in game three.
���
CMU struggled to get in a rhythm during much of the first two games, even falling behind 13-1 and 20-9 in game two. The Lady Eagles finally started to get on a roll, rattling off six straight points to get to within 15-20 in game two before Benedictine ended it with five straight points.
���
LaBoube led the Lady Eagles with 13 kills and three blocks, while Shepard and Shipley finished with seven kills each, and junior Taylor Reed (Toledo, Ohio) added six. Sophomore Sarah Lewey (Kansas City, Mo.) posted 20 assists for CMU in the loss. Defensively, junior Melanie Touchette (Millstadt, Ill.) picked up 15 digs, while senior Sarah Greenlee (Pevely, Mo.) had 14 and Shipley ended with 13.
���
Central Methodist dropped to 4-8 on the season and 0-4 in the Heart of America Athletic Conference, while Benedictine improved to 9-7 overall and 3-1 in the HAAC. The Lady Eagles will travel to Olathe, Kan., Tuesday to face MidAmerica Nazarene University in another HAAC match. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m.