CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Lindenwood women's volleyball (23-10, 14-4 OVC) was crowned the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament Champions after defeating #4 Morehead State by a final score of 3-0. It marked the first conference championship in program history at the Division I level and LU's most wins in a season since 2011.
Lindenwood offense took care of business on Tuesday posting 38 kills while hitting .246 through three sets.
Allie Otten assisted on 28 of those while recording nine digs and two aces. Otten for her efforts was named the Tournament MVP after collecting 110 assists over the weekend (10.00 a/s) and 33 digs. She also recorded four aces, two blocks and eight kills.
Jessie Seidel and
Addy McAleer were also named to the OVC All-Tournament team. Seidel had 11 digs in the Championship match while adding a team-high three aces. McAleer added a team-high eight kills with three block assists and one solo block.
Autumn Bax hit a team-high .353 with eight kills while adding four block assists.
Rebecca Janke also hit over .300 for the match after registering eight kills on 23 attempts. As a team, Lindenwood recorded eight total blocks and 57 digs. Three different Lions had double-digit digs including a team-high 17 from
Nyah Wilson who also added seven kills.
Dana Grib added 10 digs off the bench.
Lindenwood cruised to a first set victory by a score of 25-16 as LU hit .370 with 11 kills and seven aces. The Lions' seven aces were the most in a set this season and five different Lions recorded one.
Lexi Menne and Seidel both collected two in the set win. After a Morehead State timeout at the 12-7 mark, Lindenwood went on a 4-2 run to increase their lead to 16-9. Lindenwood was paced by Wilson with three kills and an ace.
Set two resulted in another Lions victory this time by a score of 25-18. Lindenwood jumped out to a 10-2 lead including two kills to start the set by McAleer. LU never trailed in the set as they hit .229 with 13 kills on 35 attempts. Otten recorded 12 assists for the Lions in set two while Bax added five of her eight kills. LU forced Morehead State into six attack errors and a .103 hitting percentage.
Lindenwood took care of business in the third set winning 25-15 while capturing their first OVC Title as a program. The Lions closed out the set on a 3-0 run, ending on McAleer's eighth kill to win the match. Lindenwood's offense had 14 kills in the third while holding Morehead State to .059 hitting percentage and six errors. Janke added five kills while McAleer had four.
To conclude the 2024 season, Lindenwood scored a total of 2,122 points which was the most in the OVC. Lindenwood's 1,722 kills and 1,601 assists also marked the most in the conference. Condon was named the OVC Coach of the Year while finishing with a 23-10 record including a 14-4 OVC mark. He coached five All-Conference selections including the OVC Setter of the Year (Otten) and Freshman of the Year (Bax).
With this Championship, Lindenwood now has won two OVC Tournament Championships with women's soccer claiming their first earlier this fall. Lindenwood is the only OVC team to win a conference championship in different sports so far this academic year.
