Game 1
Lindenwood women’s volleyball welcomed the Ohio Valley Conference-leading Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles to town and made quick work of them Thursday night sweeping them in three straight sets.
Freshman Autumn Bax led the way with a team-high 17 kills and an otherworldly 0.593 hit percentage on the night. Nyah Wilson chipped in with 12 kills and 11 digs, as she continues to show why she is one of the best six rotation players in the Ohio Valley Conference. Wilson also added to her many career accolades, achieving her 800th career kill.
Rebecca Janke had nine kills along with two blocks on the night, the Lions as a team had eight total blocks in the match. The Lions continued their spectacular defensive play at home as they held the Golden Eagles to a .099 hit percentage, their lowest this season, and forced 21 attack errors. Four different Lions had double-digit digs in the match, and when the Golden Eagles were able to get a kill attempt over the net it was slim pickings on whether or not it would score a point. Jessie Seidel led the team with 17 digs in that department and became the first Lion to reach 2,000 career digs.
The Lions jumped out to a fast start in set one quickly getting up 5-0 and forcing an early timeout from Tennessee Tech. Lindenwood would grow the lead to 11-1 on the backs of kills from Wilson, Bax, Ashley Geluck, and Addy McAleer. However, the Golden Eagles wouldn’t go quietly, as they stormed back to cut the Lion lead to 15-12 forcing Lindenwood to call a timeout to halt the Golden Eagles’ momentum. It appeared to work, as the Lions would go on to win the first set 25-19 closing out the match on kills from Janke, Geluck, and Allie Otten.
The graduate student setter would finish the match with 41 assists, four kills, two blocks, and 11 digs, for her 12th double-double this season. The Lions hit a match-high .341 and were led by Autumn Bax’s five kills in the set. Geluck, Otten, and Wilson all chipped in with three kills to gain an early advantage. The Lions held the Golden Eagles to a .104 hit percentage and forced eight attack errors compared to only two by the Lions.
Set two was a very back-and-forth set, that saw neither team able to pull away from the other. Five ties occurred within the second set. Lindenwood managed to get a small lead at 17-14, but a quick three points from Tennessee Tech tied the set at 17 all and forced the Lions to call a timeout. Coming out of the timeout Lindenwood would go on a 8-1 run to close out a second set win 25-18 on the backs of three kills from Wilson and Bax.
Bax led the Lions with six kills in the set and Wilson had five of her own. The Lions only hit 0.220 in the set but their continued play of stellar defense held the Golden Eagles to a .029 hit percentage. Lindenwood tallied both of their match aces in the second set courtesy of Dana Grib and Lexi Menne.
With their backs against the wall in the third set, Tennessee Tech tried to get back in the match and controlled set three for most of its duration. The Lions, however, kept it close and never let the Golden Eagles get too big of a lead. The set had 12 ties within it and saw the largest lead gained by either team at 18-15 in favor of Tennessee Tech.
After being down 18-15, Lindenwood would storm back winning the next five points, three of which came on kills from Rebecca Janke. This forced the Golden Eagles to call a timeout now down 20-18. Following another couple of kills from Janke giving the Lions a 22-20 lead, Tennessee Tech called their last timeout to see if they could get any momentum and come back in the set.
However, Lindenwood held it down, as Wilson and Bax closed out a close 25-23 third-set win and a sweep over the OVC-leading Golden Eagles. Janke led the Lions with seven kills to close out the match and continues to be such a presence for the Lions in the front row. Bax also chipped in with six kills to contribute to the Lion’s 0.275 hit percentage in the third set. Tennessee Tech had a match-high .143 hit percentage in the third set but was never able to gain any traction within the match and suffered their second loss of the season and first loss in OVC play.
Game 2
Fresh off a sweep of the OVC leaders and now tied for the OVC lead, Lindenwood kept it rolling Friday night and now find themselves atop the OVC after a second consecutive sweep of Tennessee Tech.
It was an all-around team effort for the Lions as five different Lions had at least five kills, while three totaled double-digit kills led by Bax, who had 13 kills on the night and had 30 across the six sets played. Wilson chipped in 12 kills to go along with 11 digs on the night. Janke had another solid night posting 11 kills on 20 attempts for a 0.550 hit percentage. The Lions outhit the Golden Eagles 0.352 to 0.270 in the match, and the Lions continued their stellar defense tallying 46 digs.
To start set one it was a back-and-forth set that saw neither team gain an advantage until Lindenwood managed to pull ahead and gained a 17-11 advantage on the back of Bax, McAleer, Wilson, and Geluck. Tennessee Tech, however, wouldn’t go quietly as they were able to tie the match at 20 apiece. Bax and Wilson though wouldn’t let Tennessee Tech close it out, as Lindenwood surged ahead to take set one by the score of 25-22.
Nyah Wilson had five kills to go along with an ace in the set. Janke had four kills and Geluck and Bax each chipped in with three kills apiece. Lindenwood was outhit 0.394 to 0.343 but when it mattered most the Lions made more plays and got the early advantage in the match.
Set two was another close set that saw 5 ties occur in the early part of the set before Lindenwood rattled off a 6-3 run to claim a 16-13 lead. The Lions would ride the back of Wilson, Bax, Geluck, McAleer, and Janke and came away with a 25-20 second set win and a commanding 2-0 lead in the match. Bax and Wilson led the way in the set with six and five kills respectively.
The Lions didn’t have any aces in the second set but also didn’t commit any service errors compared to the Golden Eagles who had 3 service errors in the set. The Lions had a match-high 0.375 hit percentage and held the Golden Eagles to a 0.256 hit percentage.
Lindenwood, commandingly up 2-0 in the match seized the momentum in the third set and rode an 8-0 run midway through the set to a 25-17 set win, match win, and 6-0 sweep of Tennessee Tech and a lead atop the OVC. Janke and Bax led the way with four kills, leading the Lions to a 0.342 hit percentage in the set. Lindenwood tallied two aces in the set courtesy of McAleer and Lexi Menne. Otten had 13 assists in the last set to bring her total for the match to 41.
The Lions will be back on the road as they head to play UT Martin (3-10, 1-3) on Oct. 18-19 before returning home on Oct. 24-25 to play host to the Tennessee State Tigers.
