ST. CHARLES, Mo. - Lindenwood women's volleyball (21-10, 14-4 OVC) won their opening round matchup at the Ohio Valley Conference Championships with a 3-0 sweep over #7 SIUE (12-18, 7-11 OVC) on Sunday morning. The Lions had 45 kills during their opening match and held SIUE to a .172 hitting percentage.

"We knew that SIUE was going to come out fighting.," said head coach Will Condon. "They have a lot of hitters that can score points for them and two very good outsides. I thought we did a good job of being patient and playing one point at a time. Dana and Lexi did a great job in their roles with some tough serves and some runs of point in key moments of the sets. Addy was a huge spark for us offensively and had some big swings for us at the ends of sets. Overall, I thought we did a good job of slowing SIUE down and limiting their kills. Post season is all about staying in the moment and not letting the situation overwhelm you.  We were very poised, even when we were behind, and that allowed us to build on some positive plays at the end of each set."

Fifth-year senior Addy McAleer led the Lions against the Cougars after posting a team-high 12 kills while hitting .417. McAleer was second on the team in attempts and had only two errors on 24 attempts. As a team, Lindenwood hit .269 on 104 total attempts with 17 errors.

Rebecca Janke played a big role in the middle scoring 11 kills on 25 attempts while hitting .320. The middle blocker also led the defense was three total blocks including two solo. As a team, Lindenwood had six total blocks including two from Ashley Geluck who had five kills as well.

Allie Otten paced the offense as the OVC Setter of the Year helped the Lions to 45 total kills. Otten tallied 33 assists while picking up 11 digs for her 23rd of the season. She also had four kills on seven attempts. Autumn Bax added six kills while Nyah Wilson added another seven.

Dana Grib helped Lindenwood to 44 digs as she collected a team-high 12 digs. Starting libero Jessie Seidel also had eight digs while adding three assists. Lexi Menne posted a season-high three aces from behind the service line as the Lions had six aces vs. the Cougars.

During the first set, Lindenwood trailed by as many as three points (13-16 SIUE) before coming back to take the first set by a final score of 25-19. McAleer came out swinging in the first set with five kills on 10 attempts. Lindenwood ended the set on a 7-2 run to claim the first point of the match. Six different Lions had a kill in set one.

Lindenwood opened up a 2-0 lead during the second set after the Lions won 25-20. The Lions again trailed by three points in the second set, but took their first lead at 16-15 with a Janke kill. Janke added four kills in the set while McAleer continued her hot start with six kills. LU had 18 kills in the set while hitting a match-high .353.

The Quarterfinal match came to a close on Sunday with a Lindenwood 25-21 set three victory. With the set tied at 16-16, Lindenwood went on a 3-0 run to take a 19-16 lead. The Lions never looked back holding SIUE to a .150 hitting percentage in the third. Menne had two of her aces in the set while Janke added another four kills.

Lindenwood will be back in action on Monday, Nov. 25th at 2:00 p.m. CT between the winner of #3 Tennessee Tech and #6 Little Rock. For more information go to lindenwoodlions.com.