ST. CHARLES, Mo. - Lindenwood women's volleyball (7-6, 1-0 OVC) swept the defending OVC Champions Eastern Illinois (4-7, 0-1 OVC) 3-0 on Friday to start Ohio Valley Conference play. Lindenwood's offense posted 49 kills vs. the Lions which was good for over 16 kills per set.

"I thought Allie Otten did a great job of spreading out the offense and getting everyone involved," said head coach Will Condon. "Dana went in and really helped solidify our serve receive. I think that Eastern does a good job of mixing up the serves, the speeds, the angles and locations so having another solid passer really made a difference tonight. We need to enjoy the win and move on quickly, tomorrow is another day against the same team so we can not make any assumptions and be ready for another fight tomorrow."

Autumn Bax posted her fourth straight match with over ten kills after posting 12 against the Panthers of EIU. She was second on the team in attacks with 24 and also second in hitting percentage with a .417. Nyah Wilson also had double-digit kills with 10.

Ashley Geluck and Rebecca Janke posed a threat in the middle collecting nine and eight kills respectively. Janke also had three blocks on defense. Libero Jessie Seidel continued her streak of double-digit kills with 10. Grib also provided five digs.

The first set was an offensive battle between the Lions and the Panthers. LU had a match high 18 kills in the first while hitting .350. Wilson had five kills while Ashley Geluck and Janke both had four. There were eight ties in the first, but Geluck ended the set with two kills to put LU up 27-25.

Eastern Illinois challenged the Lions in the second set, but LU closed out the second with a 25-21 set win. Otten helped the Lions offense with11 assists in the second and Bax added four of her 12 kills. LU's defense forced EIU into six attack errors.

Lindenwood's offense was too much for Eastern Illinois in the third set as they closed out the match with a 25-20 set win. LU had only two attack errors on 41 attempts in the third while hitting a match high .366. Geluck and Bax combined for seven kills as Lindenwood picked up their first OVC win. It marks the second straight season the Lions have won their opening OVC match.

Saturday will be match two between the Lions and Panthers inside Hyland Arena starting at 2:00 p.m. CT and streaming on ESPN+. For more information go to lindenwoodlions.com.