The Lindenwood women's volleyball team (19-3, 9-1 OVC) completed a reverse sweep of SIUE (5-15, 3-5 OVC) on Friday night inside Hyland Arena.
In the first set, SIUE won the race to 10 and continued to lead at the media timeout, 15-10. The Lions chipped away and got within a pair after an
Ashley Geluck block cut the deficit to 22-20. SIUE settled back down and won three of the next four points to take the first set 25-21.
The second stanza was a back-and-forth one as SIUE grabbed a 10-9 lead following a kill by Claire Jones. The Cougars extended its advantage with the help of a few blocks and led 15-10 at the media timeout. SIUE was able to hold onto the second set and take a 2-0 lead into the third.
Lindenwood jumped out in front 6-2 to begin the third, but SIUE clawed back and got within one at 11-10. From there, the Lions scored seven of the next eight points, including a pair of kills by
Susanna Beretti and the Black and Gold had some cushion, leading 18-11. A few points later,
Lauren Ortwerth finished off the set at 25-20.
The momentum continued into the fourth with the Lions hitting .400 as a team. Lindenwood cruised out to a big 14-3 lead, capped off by a Geluck kill and never looked back, winning the set 25-8 and sending it to the fifth.
In the fifth, Lindenwood gained control behind a .545 hitting percentage. A block by Geluck gave the Lions a 9-4 lead and went onto win the fifth set 15-6.
SIUE were held to just 14 points combined in the final two sets as three Lions had 13 or more kills led by Ortwerth with 14, followed by Beretti and
Autumn Bax with 13.
Quotable
"Give credit to SIUE, they came out ready to go", stated Lindenwood head coach
Will Condon, "It took us until set three to recover and reset the match."
"I thought we did a good job of changing our mentality during the break. It's hard to play at a high level every night and every set, but being able to reset and take back control is a powerful skill. We had a choice during the match: Either learn from it after a loss or learn in the moment and turn it into a win."
Next Up
The Lions will hit the road for a pair of matches at UT Martin November 5-6.
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