SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - Lindenwood women's volleyball (4-7, 0-0) dropped their fifth straight match with a 3-1 loss against non-conference opponent Arkansas State (9-2, 0-0 Sun Belt) at the Bear Invitational hosted by Missouri State.

"I thought we had our moments when we were playing some of our best volleyball and that was great to see," said head coach Will Condon. "Arkansas State did a great job of keeping a high level and we just could not sustain ours."

The Lions opened up with a set one victory for their third straight match after winning 25-19 against the Redwolves. LU was down 9-5 early on before making a run to tie the match at 12 each. Lindenwood took their first lead at the 17-16 mark and score the next eight of 11 points to take the win.

Nyah Wilson led the attack group with five kills in the first set. Wilson also eclipsed 400 career kills against ASU. Five different Lions posted a kill while Lindenwood hit four service aces to claim set one.

Arkansas State went on to tie the match in the second after a 19-25 defeat of Lindenwood. The Redwolves jumped out early with a 7-3 lead and never looked back. Despite the loss, the Lions still hit .209 for the set and had 15 kills. ASU hit .400 with 17 kills including six from Kaitlin Whitlock.

Lindenwood was held to their worst hitting percentage of the match in the third with a .000. Arkansas State forced the Lions into seven errors while recording three solo blocks. ASU took the set 16-25. Addy McAleer led the way in the third with three kills.

Lindenwood kept it close throughout the majority of the final set. Despite ASU taking a 16-11 advantage midway through, the Lions battled back to tie the match at 19-19. The Redwolves scored five of the final six points to take the match win.

McAleer took the top spot in kills during their match with 14 while Wilson was behind her with 11. Both were active defensively as well picking up 10 and eight digs respectively. Jessie Seidel posted another 20+ dig performance with 26 on Friday. 

Allie Otten and Abby VanBuskirk split time at setter with 16 assists each. Rebecca Janke also had seven kills and two blocks while Özge Tan led the team with three blocks.

"We challenged ourselves in this preseason to prepare us for conference play. Now we need to take what we learned and apply it to these OVC matches," said Condon.

The Lions will be back at Hyland Arena on Wednesday, Sept. 20 as they open up conference play with new Ohio Valley Conference opponent Western Illinois. This marks the first of four straight home matches for Lindenwood. For more information go to lindenwoodlions.com.