Match 1:
Lindenwood (18-9, 12-3) beat Southeast Missouri State (15-12, 12-3) on Thursday night (25-22, 20-25, 25-22, 25-20) to move into a tie for first place in the Ohio Valley Conference with three matches left to play in the regular season. Lindenwood and SEMO will also have to battle with Little Rock who currently sits at 11-5 in the conference and got swept by SEMO earlier in the season. The Trojans will play Lindenwood next week to close out the regular season.
It was yet another team effort for the Lions to get the win in four sets. Four different Lions registered 10+ kills on the night and were led by Rebecca Janke. Janke finished the match with 14 kills to lead the Lions and became just the second Lion to achieve 1,000 kills in a career in the NCAA era of Lindenwood women’s volleyball. Janke ended the night with 1,011 career kills, and only trails Kayla Guyot (2012-15) for the all-time lead in career kills with 1,090. She also led the team in blocks with seven, including four solo blocks. Autumn Bax continued her strong freshman campaign, as she tallied 13 kills on the night. It was the 15th time this season Bax has tallied over 10 kills in a match this season. Nyah Wilson added 12 kills and 15 digs for her 11th double-double of the season and had two solo blocks.
Ashley Geluck had a superb night, tallying 11 kills while hitting a team-high .409 on the night. Geluck and Janke created a middle tandem that tallied 25 total kills and nine total blocks. Lindenwood had 11 blocks on the night, the most in a match this season. Lindenwood’s defense shined last night as, as a team they tallied 96 digs led by Jessie Seidel 31 of them, the fourth time Seidel has tallied over 30 digs in a match this season.
The first set showed just how strong these two teams were and what it was going to take to win. The opening set saw 10 ties and four lead changes between these two powerhouses before they found themselves tied 19-19. Lindenwood closed out the set on a 6-2 run on the backs of kills from Geluck and Wilson. Wilson finished the first set with five kills and seven digs, while Janke chipped in with three kills and four blocks.
Lindenwood stumbled a bit in the second set. Lindenwood jumped out to a 15-9 lead and looked liked they would be well on their way to achieving a critical 2-0 lead in the match before SEMO came storming back and closed the set on a 14-5 run helped out by several attack errors from the Lions and unlucky bounces off of block attempts. The Lions were held to a .059 hit percentage in the second set and committed nine attack errors and three service errors in the set. The Lions just weren’t able to capitalize on opportunities only converting 51 of their attack attempts into 12 kills.
Lindenwood, though, responded nicely in the third set en route to a 25-22 set win and a 2-1 lead in the match. SEMO appeared to have the upper hand for a second straight set, as the Redhawks held the lead at 17-14 forcing Lindenwood to call timeout. SEMO would score the first point out of the timeout, growing their lead to 18-14 before the Lions came storming back. Kills from Addy McAleer and Geluck, and an ace from SEMO’s Kayla Closset tied the set at 20-20 and forced the Redhawks to call timeout. Now with all the momentum, the Lions closed the set out on three straight kills from Seidel, Bax, and Janke. Janke punished the middle tallying six kills in the set, aided by again superb defense from the Lions as they tallied 27 digs in the set.
Lindenwood closed out the match winning the set 25-20. The Lions found themselves down early 6-3, but rallied to take a 17-11 advantage before closing out the set 25-20. The match win was the Lions 12th of the season setting a record for the most conference for Lindenwood in their NCAA era. Bax led the way in the set tallying five kills, and McAleer chipped in with four kills of her owns as the Lions pulled even with SEMO atop the OVC standings.
Match 2:
For the first time all season, Lindenwood lost at home. They fell to SEMO (16-12, 13-3) in five sets (20-25, 16-25, 25-23, 25-16, 10-15) on Senior Night. Lindenwood (18-10, 12-4) almost capped an unbelievable reverse sweep, but fell just short in set five and fell to second place in the OVC. If the Lions want a chance at hosting the OVC tournament, they’ll need to sweep Little Rock next weekend and hope SIUE can find a way to beat SEMO in at least one of their matches. Lindenwood honored their seven seniors during pregame festivities, including Janke, Wilson, Abby VanBuuskirk, Madilyn Dement, Seidel, McAleer, and Allie Otton.
Bax led the way for the Lions with 16 kills, and Janke had 15 kills and just one attack error hitting .400 for the match. Janke leads the OVC in hitting percentage at .356. Geluck continued her strong series against SEMO, tallying 12 kills on Friday night, her second straight match with 10+ kills. Geluck was also a menace, tallying four blocks including three solo tallies. McAleer, facing off against her former school, had 11 kills, 16 digs, and two aces. Otten made Lindenwood history on Friday, becoming the all-time leader in school history in assists with her 3,232nd during the fourth set. Otten ended the match with 52 assists, she has now posted six 50+ assists matches this season including three straight. She also recorded 14 digs, good for a double-double.
After losing Thursday’s match 3-1, SEMO jumped out quickly winning the first set 25-20. Lindenwood tied it at 20-20 but SEMO was able to close it out with a 5-0 run and take a 1-0 lead in the match. The set featured 14 ties and eight lead changes but ultimately the Redhawks were able to close it out. Janke led the Lions with four kills in the set but the Lions were outhit .225-.114 by SEMO.
SEMO kept it rolling taking the second set in dominating fashion 25-16 and gaining a huge 2-0 lead in the match. Lindenwood never led during the set, and only tied it once at 2-2. The Lions were held to a .150 hit percentage, had six attack errors, and three service errors.
However, in the third set, the Lions woke up. In what was the closest set of the match, the third set featured 16 ties and 15 lead changes. Lindenwood found themselves down 19-16 late in the match forcing the Lions to call timeout. Out of the timeout Geluck, Bax, and Janke all tallied kills and tied the set at 21-21. The tension continued to rise as the set was tied at 23-23 before a Janke kill and an McAleer ace closed out the set and kept the Lions alive. Bax and Janke had six kills apiece in the set, with Geluck chipping in with five kills of her own.
Lindenwood kept the momentum rolling as they easily won the fourth set 25-16. The Lions held SEMO to a .098 hit percentage while they hit a match-high .277 in the set. McAleer led the way for the Lions with six kills while Geluck had four of her own and Janke and Bax each had three. With SEMO now on their heels, Lindenwood looked to cap off the unbelievable reverse sweep on senior night.
However, the comeback would not happen as SEMO came out with some fire in the fifth set jumping out to a quick 5-0 lead. Lindenwood would pull within two points at 8-6, but SEMO would close out the set on a 7-4 run winning the set 15-10 and the match moving one game ahead of the Lions in the OVC standings with two matches left to play. The Lions were held to a .050 hit percentage in the fifth set, while the Redhawks hit a match-high .333 in the final set.
The Lions will now head into their final series of the regular season against Little Rock on Nov. 19-20. The Lions will need some help if they want to win the regular season OVC title, as they will need SEMO to lose at least one of their matches against SIUE, while the Lions will need to sweep Little Rock.
