EAST PEORIA, Ill. – The first-ever trip to the Great Lakes Valley Conference Volleyball Tournament continues for the McKendree Bearcats, who defeated UIndy 3-0 (25-21, 25-15, 25-20) in the semifinal match Friday evening at the Eastside Centre in East Peoria, Ill.

Thursday's 3-1 win over Rockhurst was the first post-season victory for the Bearcats (20-12) since joining the GLVC in 2012, and they kept the ball rolling by dropping the Greyhounds (19-10) to advance to the championship.

For UIndy, which had advanced past the GLVC second round four of the last five seasons, the loss marks the end of a conference title defense and shot at the program's fifth league championship.

In their regular season meeting back on Oct. 3, McKendree rallied to beat UIndy 3-2 in the Ruth Lilly Fitness Center.

Friday, the Bearcats hit .301 as a team, by far the highest total against the Hounds this season. Hillsdale's .271 had been the best mark against the Greyhounds entering the tournament. McKendree also totaled 9 team blocks, and hit several more Greyhound attacks at the net.

The 'Cats – the East's three-seed – held a comfortable lead for much of the first set, winning 25-21.

McKendree came out in the second set and seemingly cruised to a 25-15 victory to go up 2-0. Throughout the match, the Bearcats held leads of 5-0, 14-8, 19-11 and 23-14 before putting away the East's top seed.

The third set looked promising for the Greyhounds, who jumped out to a 14-10 lead. But an 8-1 run from the Bearcats was too much to overcome for UIndy, as McKendree won 25-20 to seal the victory.

As a result of McKendree's defense at the net, UIndy hit just .138 (34-19-109) as a team, with just one player – Hailey Brown – finishing over .200. Brown led the squad with 10 kills and hit .233 (10-3-30).

Arielle Knafel totaled 17 digs, and Meghan Binkerd finished with 29 assists.

The Greyhounds now await Sunday night's NCAA Division II volleyball selection show to find out their seed in the upcoming NCAA Midwest Regional.