ST. CHARLES, Mo. - Lindenwood women's volleyball (5-6, 0-0 OVC) split a pair of matches against Kansas City (2-7, SL) and Bradley (4-7 MVC) on Friday at the Kangaroo Klassic in Kansas City, Mo. The Lions started the day with a 3-0 sweep over the host school UMKC before falling to Bradley in four sets.

MATCH ONE
Lindenwood - 3
Kansas City - 0

Match one ended in a 3-0 sweep for the Lindenwood Lions as they took down the host school Kansas City to start Friday's action. Lindenwood's offense was on point hitting .330% in three sets while posting 45 kills.
 
Nyah Wilson paced the Lions with a team-high 12 kills against Kansas City. Freshman Autumn Bax continued her strong start to the season with 10 kills. Both hitters hit over .440% for the entire match. Rebecca Janke also had seven kills against the Roos.
 
Lindenwood's setters were efficient posting 42 assists on 45 total kills. Allie Otten led the pack with 18 assists while Abby VanBuskirk added 13. The team's .330% hitting percentage marked the best they have hit this season. Their 10 attack errors were also their second lowest of the year.
 
Defensively, libero Jessie Seidel had 17 digs just shy of six digs per set. She continues her streak this season with at least 10+ digs in all 10 matches. Seidel was also effective on offense with five assists. As a team, the Lions had 52 digs compared to just 45 by Kansas City.
 
Set one was dominated by the Lions after they took the set by a score of 25-14. After trailing 2-0, Lindenwood went on a 6-0 run and never looked back. As a team, they had 16 kills on.412% hitting in set one. Bax led the group with five kills while Seidel picked up seven digs.
 
Lindenwood faced adversity in the second set as they trailed 13-20 nearing the end of the set. The Lions clawed their way back into the set with the help of Wilson (six kills) and Addy McAleer (four kills). Wilson's solo block sealed the 26^th point as the Lions went up 2-0.
 
The third set was neck and neck as there was eight ties and three lead changes. Tied at 21-21, Lindenwood ended the match by scoring the final four points. Janke had the match-clinching kill to secure LU's win over Kansas City. She posted four kills in the third set while Otten had six assists.

MATCH TWO
Lindenwood - 1
Bradley - 3

Lindenwood fell during their second match on Friday against Missouri Valley opponent Bradley. Both teams were very even in many statistical categories but Bradley had the upper hand in kills (64) and hitting percentage (.218%).

Bax and Janke led the attackers for Lindenwood as each posted 15 kills in the loss. Both hitters were effective from their positions with Janke posting a .310% hitting percentage in the middle while Bax hit .324 from the right side.

Otten was the primary setter for Lindenwood in their second match posting 37 assists. It marked her eighth time this season she has gone over 30 assists and first time in her last four matches. VanBuskirk also had 10 assists.

Seidel once again led the Lions in digs with 22. She was one of three players with over 10+ digs for the Lions including McAleer who chipped in 11 and Dana Grib who had 15. Seidel has now had over 20 digs five times in 2024.

Lindenwood's one set win came in the third set where LU defeated Bradley by a score of 25-19. LU had 17 kills in that set including six from Janke. Seidel also had nine of her digs in the third. Bax also had five kills.

Set four was very tightly contested with the final score going to the Braves 28-30. Lindenwood battled back multiple times in a set which saw 11 ties and seven lead changes. After going up 28-27, LU surrendered three straight points to lose the fourth set and the match. Bax came alive in the fourth to try and help the Lions with seven kills.

Lindenwood ends their non-conference schedule with a matchup against Montana tomorrow morning at 11:00 a.m. CT in Kansas City, Mo. For more information go to lindenwoodlions.com.