ST. CHARLES, Mo. - Lindenwood women's volleyball (17-9, 11-3 OVC) picked up a huge win over Western Illinois (15-10, 9-5 OVC) by a final score of 3-1. The Lions posted 72 kills against the Leathernecks with 65 total assists. It marked the fourth time this season the Lions have posted over 70 kills in a match and the first time in four sets.
"I thought we responded well from the weekend and came out with a great mindset," said head coach
Will Condon. "Western made a couple more plays than us in the first set. We chose to respond with more effort which was great to see. Obviously, having Rebecca (Janke) back helps. Her ability to score in tough positions and take up attention and resources helps open things up for other players on the court."
Rebecca Janke had a career night on Tuesday after coming back from missing the last five matches due to injury. Janke scored a season-high 26 kills and set the Lindenwood single match record for kills (previously 24 kills). She hit .458 for the match on a 48 swings.
Nyah Wilson and
Autumn Bax both had 15 kills on the night. Wilson led the team in attacks with 51 and only three attack errors. Bax posted her most kills since having 17 on October 17th. As a team, the Lions hit .302 which marked the seventh time the Lions have hit over .300.
Allie Otten continued her strong graduate season with 54 assists. Otten proved reliable on defense as well posting her 18th double-double of the season with 15 digs. Five different Lions had assists on Tuesday.
Jessie Seidel led a defensive unit that posted 84 digs, their sixth highest of the season. Seidel posted exactly 30 digs on Tuesday marking the third time this season she had gone over the 30-mark. Wilson also added 12 digs while
Addy McAleer added 17 (season-high).
"What I liked about the match for us is that Western showed up to play and we were able to adapt and raise our level of play," said Condon. "We tried to knock them out of their game and we are able to do it in spurts but they did a good job on defense and getting touches at the net so we had to make some tough one on one plays which we were able to do tonight."
Western Illinois took the first by a final score of 25-23. Lindenwood took a late lead 19-14 when WIU called a timeout. After that point, the Leathernecks stormed back tying the match at 22 and eventually taking set one. Wilson and Janke had four kills each in the first set.
The second set was the closest of the four with 14 tied scores and seven lead changes. Lindenwood scored the final two point after tying the match at 23 including a set-sealing kill by Wilson. Janke was unstoppable with nine kills in the set while Otten added 15.
Lindenwood took a huge 2-1 lead in the third set after winning 25-21. There were 13 ties in the set and five lead changes. The Lions ended the set on a 6-2 run to clinch the third set. Bax and Wilson both had six kills with Seidel adding 10 digs.
The Lions closed out the match winning 25-17 with Lindenwood closing out the match hitting .415 in the fourth. Lindenwood scored 19 kills in the final frame to clinch their 11th OVC win of the season. It marked a season sweep of Western Illinois after LU took down WIU earlier this season in Macomb, Ill.
Lindenwood will have a bye weekend before returning to Hyland Arena to host SEMO on Thursday, Nov. 14th at 6:00 p.m. CT. For more information go to lindenwoodlions.com.
