The Thunder volleyball team took their #1 ranking to Gallatin, Tennessee to participate in the Welch College Tournament where there were three other top-10 teams in attendance. The Thunder would open up tournament play on Friday afternoon with a rematch of the 2023 NCCAA Division II National Championship with a match against the #5 ranked Bob Jones University Bruins. The Thunder and Bruins would split the first two sets before the Bruins would take the final two sets to win the match, 3-1 (20-25, 25-22, 22-25, 20-25). Jacey Schurle would lead the offensive attack with 16 kills and a 0.414 attack percentage. Liv Lubbers and Jayda Juenemann would have 11 and 10 kills, respectively. Jozie Kanode would also have six service aces to contribute to the offense. Abby Blake would pace the defense with 36 digs, while Schurle would total five blocks (four assists, one solo).

On Saturday morning, the Thunder won their 11th match by way of sweep over the Trinity Baptist College Eagles (25-14, 25-8, 25-9). The Thunder would have an attack percentage of 0.422 along with 20 service aces. They were led again by Schurle who had 11 kills and Kanode who had five services aces. Lubbers would have nine kills, while Hannah Beukelman was right behind with eight kills to round off the offensive attack. Josie Mehl would have 32 assists for the Thunder.

In their second match of the day, the Thunder would take on the #3 ranked Boyce College Bulldogs. The Bulldogs would jump out to a 2-0 lead before the Thunder grabbed the third set. The Thunder would ultimately fall in four to the Bulldogs (19-25, 18-25, 25-20, 24-26). A balanced offensive attack led by Lubbers (15 kills), Ellie Wilson (12 kills), Beukelman (9 kills), and Schurle (8 kills) was not enough to overcome the Bulldogs. Head coach Lauren Sanders had this to say after the weekend, "It was an incredible weekend of volleyball. We battled every point, made great adjustments when we needed to and fought on every play. We know the level we need to play at the rest of the season." After a 1-2 weekend, the Thunder move to 11-4 overall.

After playing two ranked teams, the Thunder will continue that trend where they will travel to the #4 ranked Randall University Saints on Saturday, October 5th. This match will be at 11:00 AM at the Activity Center on the campus of Randall University.

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