ST. CHARLES, MO. - The Lindenwood women's volleyball team defeated Little Rock 3-2 on Saturday afternoon in Arkansas.
"This was an interesting match for us. We started off in set one on fire and played about as perfectly as you could play," said Head Coach
Will Condon. "Then, Little Rock responded and really put us on our heels. We had a high level of effort throughout the whole match, at times we were trying too hard and overplaying."
OVERVIEW
After defeating the Trojans in four sets yesterday, the Lions knew exactly what they had to do in order to get another victory. This was evident in the first set, which Lindenwood ran away with in a swift 25-12 victory.
Little Rock wouldn't go down without a fight, however, cleaning up their game in the second set to beat the Lions 15-25, to which Lindenwood then responded with a third set victory, beating the Trojans 25-21 to push on into the fourth set.
The Lions weren't able to end things there, however, and Little Rock took the fourth set 17-25, forcing the match into a fifth set.
Things were back and forth in the final set, and things were all tied up at 13 after Nyah Wilson got one of her 23 kills of the night. Madilyn Dement served next, and another kill from Wilson forced the Trojans to take a timeout with the Lions up 14-13. The dynamic duo of Dement on the service and Wilson on the kill wrapped things up for Lindenwood, who came out on top in a dramatic 15-13 finish.
Wilson was the standout of the night for Lindenwood, tallying a season-high 23 kills on 51 total attacks. The sophomore outside hitter ended the match with a .353 hitting percentage, which was the top hitting percentage of the night for Lindenwood. Wilson also accumulated the most points out of anyone from either team, sitting atop the leaderboard with 24.5 total points.
Other strong performances came from
Mackenzi Sifuentes, who had quite the block party with her team-leading six total blocks against the Trojans. Abby VanBuskirk was both the assists and the digs leader for both teams, recording 49 total assists and 20 total digs.
"Little Rock really pushed us defensively and made us pay when we did not make a good choice," said Condon. "I thought the key for us was in crunch time when it really mattered we made the plays. In those moments we were able to put the moment aside and score the big point. I am proud of this team. To go on the road and win two matches with the fate of our post season on the line says a lot about what this team can do."
UP NEXT
The Lions will return home to Hyland Arena for one final weekend this year, where they will take on Eastern Illinois on Friday night at 6:00PM.
