Game 1
Lindenwood women’s volleyball opened up conference play with a sweep of the defending Ohio Valley conference champs, the Eastern Illinois Panthers. The offensive love was spread throughout as six different Lions recorded a kill. Freshman Autumn Bax continued her hot run, fresh off OVC freshman of the week honors, tallying a team leading 12 kills in the three set win. This was her fourth straight match tallying more than 10 kills. Nyah Wilson had 10 kills of her own to go along with two aces and six digs. Rebecca Janke had eight kills of her own as she was a dominant force in the middle all night as she also put up four blocks. Ashley Geluck had nine kills to her name on the night, as she provided a much needed energy spark anytime it seemed that Eastern Illinois was gaining some momentum within the match.
The first set was an offensive back and forth battle between the Lions and the Panthers. Lindenwood had a match high 18 kills in the first while hitting .350. Wilson had five kills, while Geluck and Janke each tallied four. Both teams kept throwing punches at each other as the set saw eight ties throughout the set. Eastern Illinois appeared to have the set in hand after going up 24-22 following an attack by Wilson. But Lindenwood would go on to five of the next six points and would be finished off by back to back kills by Geluck to give Lindenwood the gutsy first set win and immediately put the defending OVC champs staggering back on their heels and on the defense. Lindenwood would tally seven of their 10 service errors in the first set and gave Eastern Illinois several points when it looked like Lindenwood might pull away and ultimately almost cost them the set.
Eastern Illinois tried to shake off the first set loss by charging back in the second set, matching point for point with Lindenwood until Eastern Illinois was forced to call a timeout down 16-13 following a kill by Janke. Eastern Illinois would storm back and cut the lead to 22-21 but following an Bax kill, a Dana Grib ace and an attack error by the Panthers Karli Mann Lindenwood would have a two sets to none lead with the 25-21 set two win. Bax would tally four of her 12 kills in the set as Janke and Wilson each added four of their own. Lindenwood’s defense was exceptional in the second set holding Eastern Illinois to a .214 hit percentage and six attack errors. Lindenwood would also have three aces in the set. Overall there would 11 ties within the set but the Lions found a way to get it done.
With their spirits high and the crowd into the game Lindenwood was able to ride a quick start to a 25-20 third set win and a match win. Lindenwood jumped out to a 7-3 lead fueled by kills from Bax, Addy McAleer, Janke and Wilson. Eastern Illinois would be able to cut the lead to 10-7 before Lindenwood launched a huge run to virtually put the match out of reach. Kills from McAleer, and Geluck and stellar defense from Lindenwood would grow the lead to 16-10 and power them to the third set win. Eastern Illinois would try to mount one last comeback getting the score to 19-15 before a combination of McAleer, Geluck and Bax powered the Lions to a 25-20 match win. Lindenwood had a match high .366 hit percentage in the third set led by Bax’ six kills. McAleer would chip in four kills of her own as Wilson and Geluck had three and two respectively. Lindenwood held Eastern Illinois to a .262 hit percentage and another four attack errors.
Game 2
Fresh off a 3-0 sweep the night before, the Lions were right back to it, getting another sweep over Eastern Illinois on Saturday afternoon. The Lions were led by an all around team effort that led to dominating the Panthers in the kill department 41-24. Bax became the fifth Lions player to tally 100 kills on the season, as her team leading nine kills on the day got her to the century mark. Geluck and Janke both tallied seven kills, and Wilson and McAleer each had six. Seven different Lions tallied a kill on the day but as a team they only hit .238. The Lions also tallied eight aces in the match led by Wilson who had three to lead the team, as well as eight digs. The Lions were also able to limit the amount of service errors they had, only having eight compared to their last match when they had 10. The Lions also had seven blocks on the day compared to only four by the Panthers.
The Lions picked up right where they left off the night prior, jumping out to a 13-3 lead in the first set. Early kills by Janke and Geluck, and exceptional defense leading to countless attack errors by the Panthers. The Lions would ride this hot start to an opening set 25-15 win. Janke led the Lions with three kills and five different Lions each had two kills in the opening set. The Lions held the Panthers to an absurd -.107 hit percentage and nine attack errors. Otton, acting as the setter, spread the ball around in the first set and was able to catch the Panthers sleeping on a couple of occasions, leading to two kills of her own in the opening set. The Lions only hit .250 as a team in the opening set but it was more than good enough to earn the early lead.
The Panthers after having lost four straight sets to the Lions jumped out to an early 4-1 lead in the second set before Lindenwood stormed back and tied the set at 7-7. That was the closest the Panthers would ever see the set again as riding the back of Bax the Lions cruised to a 25-19 set win. Bax finished the set leading the Lions with four kills and a block. Six other Lions would record a kill in the set but combined with six attack errors, the Lions would only hit .205 in the set. But the exceptional defense continued into the second set as Lindenwood held the Panthers to only nine kills and a .026 hit percentage and forced them into committing eight attack errors. The Lions had two more aces in the second set both ,courtesy of Wilson who improved her team lead to 17 on the year.
With the Lions comfortably up two sets to none, they were able to cruise through the third set and cap off back to back sweeps of Eastern Illinois. The Panther were picked to finish second in the OVC this year but the Lions had them flustered and playing from behind all weekend. Another hot start for the Lions saw them jump out to leads of 4-0, 10-4 and 20-10. The Panthers would try to mount a small comeback but kills from Janke and McAleer shut the door on the Panthers’ meek comeback and finished off the sweep with a 25-18 third set win. The Lions were led by 3 kills each from McAleer, Geluck and Janke in the third set as the Lions tallied 14 kills and a .263 hit percentage with only having four attack errors. The Lions leaned on their defense heavily in the third set holding the Panthers to only nine kills, and a .061 hit percentage. The Panthers also committed another seven attack errors. The Lions had a match high four aces in the third set but also had 4 service errors, which is still an area that needs to be improved for the Lions.
After the weekend, the Lions found themselves tied atop the Ohio Valley Conference standings along with Tennessee Tech, Western Illinois, Little Rock, and Southeast Missouri State. The Lions will be back in action on Oct. 1 as they head to play Western Illinois. They’ll then head to SIUE on Oct. 4-5 before returning home on Oct. 10-11 to play Tennessee Tech.
